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{
    "id": 438488,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/438488/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
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    "content": "The Ministry of Education has attempted, particularly, during the beginning of the NARC Government to form a committee that was supposed to come up with policies and legal regimes that could support this. The only unfortunate thing that was done was the people who were identified to sit and drive this were mainly professionals who had gone through face to face instructions of learning. It is a big challenge when you are asking learners to come up with a policy that can support the form of learning where the students never interact with the teacher. We cannot afford at this time, as a country, not to come up with this policy. You will recall that in the Millennium Development Goals everybody is supposed to be able read and write. That is our intention and aim, but because of the challenges that we have in the countryside and counties, it is so essential that we come up with policies that can enable pupils at the primary or secondary level to study on their own without necessarily going to class to interact with a teacher. Madam Temporary Speaker, we are talking about an ambitious programme by the Jubilee Government, where every Class One pupil in our primary schools is supposed to be given a laptop. If that programme moves on, it, therefore, means that every part of the country will be linked to fibre connection. If every part of the country is linked, those who cannot go to school can easily access learning materials. Therefore, the Ministry of Education should introduce programmes and come up with a website where those educational materials can be posted for use by anybody who may want to study at their own pace. Madam Temporary Speaker, in the developed world, young people who do not want to go to school can continue learning from their homes, because of the open and distance learning facility. Kenya is supposed to lead in this area. I am told that we attempted to come up with a version of the same but we only came up with what is found in Kikuyu Campus of the University of Nairobi, where students come over the holidays to pick material. This is not what this Motion is proposing. It is proposing to have a programme where you send the material to the students and they are able to access it. Sen. Musila has talked about the issue of certificates being detained because of lack of payment of school fees. This is a very cheap programme where we are not going to spend a lot of money. You only need registration fees to access the material. The extramural of the University of Nairobi has not assisted, because it is just like the school-based programme that we normally have. But countries like Tanzania, South Africa and Ethiopia copied from our system, but improved on it and made it law. Madam Temporary Speaker, so many laws have been introduced by the Government and they have been passed by Parliament, but implementation seems to be a terrible and serious challenge. This is because when a law has been passed, we need to follow it up. I call upon the Government and particularly, the relevant department, to come up with a framework that is essential. Now that we have counties, so many staff have been employed, but they are unable to access university education and colleges, because not all universities are found in the counties. If we had a university or college that is dedicated to distance learning, it would be very easy for those counties to be linked. 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."
}