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{
    "id": 400941,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/400941/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 241,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "October 30, 2013 SENATE DEBATES 46 Sen. Elachi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I also rise to support the report. Having looked at it, I realise that the committee did well in terms of concentrating on the ECD. They also brought out a critical analysis in terms of how the counties are failing in terms of education. When you look at some counties, they are performing poorly in this area while we know that it is within the ECD that the foundation of a child is built. The ECD is a very interesting process for children because they stay in that system for five years before they transit to standard one. As other hon. Senators have said, it is time that we reviewed the curriculum. There is no way a three year old child is supposed to do mathematics of addition. There is no way a three year old child can begin by learning one plus one. This is quite unfair to the child and the teacher, who will end up teaching that child when he or she gets to standard one. As a teacher, you need to improve yourself and go back for training to understand children. The other issue raised in the report concerns the number of teachers we have. For example, in Kakamega County, they have 2,200 teachers while they have 168 institutions of early childhood education. This means there are only two teachers per class or may be even less. It is also very wanting when we imagine that in early childhood we have children who are three, two or even four years. They are very young and they need a lot tender care. This is one thing that we need to invest in, not just under the Ministry of Education, but parents should assist in looking at the well being of our children in terms of when they are young and how they grow up. The report talks about ICT. However, I would also request the Committee to look at it in terms of bringing more ICT in the polytechnics that they are talking about. For example, Sigalagala Polytechnic in Kakamega has been in existence for many years. If the Government were really to assist, Sigalagala Polytechnic would be part of Masinde Muliro University in Kakamega County. Today the Jubilee Government has a programme to give every constituency money to build well furnished institutions of science and technology. But I would also request the Government to look at some of the institutions that already exist and decide whether they can develop them, instead of building new ones. For example, in Kakamega County, we do not need to build another one. There are many technical schools that are very good and well equipped. However, some of them are growing old and they require refurbishment. In some of those polytechnics, you will find only 300 students, yet they are well equipped. This means that also the awareness about our own polytechnics is very low. Therefore, as we build these polytechnics, we need to also rethink how we can ensure that people embrace them. Madam Temporary Speaker, during Kibaki’s Government, it was agreed that we rehabilitate the existing village polytechnics and build new ones. Today, I do not think that anybody has done an assessment to know how many of them are still operational and whether they are able even to give that expertise and skills that we are looking for. Those are some of the things that we need to ask ourselves as we use and manage public funds. Do we manage and use public funds to benefit the public or for the sake of just building? This is a question that I think the President has taken very seriously. That is why he is looking at even the parastatals that exist and trying to reform and reduce them. So, we have to look across all sections. 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"
}