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{
    "id": 426164,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/426164/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 112,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, at the rise of the House on Thursday, I had just concluded praising Sen. Karaba for bringing this Motion and pointed out that in the successive regimes in this country, adult education was always relegated. It was bundled with culture, children and women issues. It was never taken as a serious matter that has to spring Kenyans out of illiteracy to avail them functional literacy to the extent that even a mama in the village taking a child to hospital can come back home, read the prescription and administer the medicine properly; functional literacy to the extent that even a villager delivering his cane to Nzoia Sugar Company can read the Statement and know what CR and DR are; functional literacy to the extent that when we go to elections, the idea of going to vote is an extremely personal matter; that 50 years after Independence, we should not be having assisted voters unless they are voters with impaired vision. This is the policy that is lacking. It is the policy that this Motion is seeking. Senators are representatives of counties. Therefore, it is incumbent upon all of us to ensure that we compete favourably so that we do not represent counties where functional literacy is not talked about. We want to see Kenyans, at the very least, reading and writing. That is the gist of the Motion. I fully support the Motion. Education is one of those basic rights in the Constitution. The Constitution provides that everybody is entitled to education, housing, good food, good nutrition and all the aspirational issues in the Constitution. As I conclude my contribution, I support the Motion. I support the Motion, not just to the extent that we have a policy, but that we have sufficient provisions in the budget to ensure that there are centres of adult learning, grades for adult learners and encouragement for adult learners. As I said, there is a study that has shown that the first grader, Maruge, when he appeared in school, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) discouraged persons of that age going to sit in the same class with toddlers because they distracted them from learning. These people become centres of amusement. We must have separate classes for adult learners, away from little children. Can you imagine a Standard One child, at the age of seven, looking at the rough chin of a 70 year old with beards and all manner of wrinkles? This is not right. It discourages and affects children. This is a special study that was carried out by UNESCO. So, how do we solve this issue? We need to encourage separate adult classes where senior citizens older than the old Maruge can go 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."
}