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{
    "id": 400935,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/400935/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 235,
    "type": "other",
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    "content": "improve the living conditions of our people. This is because an educated nation is an enlightened one and the people can improve their conditions. With regard to polytechnics, when the parallel degree programmes were started in the universities, the tertiary institutions where certificate and diploma courses were offered have died slowly because there has been this perception that if you have a degree you stand a better chance of securing employment. People have ended up doing all manner of courses which are not even relevant to this country. People have ended up with papers which they cannot secure any job with. We have been talking about Vision 2030 when we want to be a developed nation. From experience, you will require the technicians and the artisans to build this country. One of the best ways of creating employment is to have people at that level. If a country is developing, there will be infrastructure developments of all kinds. This will require people with skills. The actual construction of a road will require inspectors, overseers, surveyors and masons. These are the people who actually do the work. The others will design and supervise, but the actual work is done by this middle level technicians. That is what we are lacking. That is why with this county government system, we can develop those skills at our county levels which are specific to what is available in that area. For example, in northern Kenya where we have livestock as the biggest economic activity, the training should improve the quality of that way of life targeting value addition in the livestock industry so that people can be employed in that sector. The economic development of that area will be based on what is available there. They could also engage in hides and skins production. These are things which will make use of what is readily available in that place. That should be applicable to all other counties so that we have people with skills which are relevant to their areas and who can easily make use of those skills, develop themselves and their counties. That has been captured by the Committee as part of its recommendation. Madam Temporary Speaker, I would like to urge the national Government to come up with the relevant curriculum even in the case of polytechnics. As it has been said, we should stop calling them village polytechnics because there is a perception which shows that these are institutions whose skills are backward. This is not the case. They could be renamed county polytechnics so that they can attract young people. They should also have a uniform curricular so that learners can easily move from one county to another for training. The other issue is the remuneration of the teachers in the ECDs. Just as in the case of primary and secondary schools, the employer is one. There is the TSC and a teacher in any part of the country in the same grade will have the same remuneration. The same should also be introduced in the ECDs. Those teachers should have uniform remuneration because the way you treat a system shows how much you value it. It has been said that the training has been left to every Tom, Dick and Harry who knows how to read and write to do the training whereas it requires more skill than even teaching in secondary schools. Here you are dealing with human beings who are growing up. Therefore, they require more attention than grownups who know why they are in school. These people require a lot of care. We need to appreciate what the ECD teachers are going through. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}