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{
    "id": 470462,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/470462/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 191,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "(WEF). I would suggest that the YEF should be independent to enable economic growth. We know the youth have come up with different youth groups. They need these grants to enable them grow economically, so that we can avoid idleness and that leads to the youth engaging in drugs. As a commitment to the Central Government and the President of this Republic, this money should be channeled to the county level in the devolved government. What caught the eyes of many of us and the public was the issue of laptops being given to class one pupils. I am living in the digital age. I can bear witness that for us to achieve this, there should be a better way of doing it. For me, I take this to be a “white elephant”; just like the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits that were meant to hoodwink the public, but at the end of it all, did not work well for the Kenyan society. I know that we were registered as voters using the BVR kits, but we did not use them to vote. When we went to vote on 4th March, they all collapsed. This was siphoning of funds. The situation in our primary schools is that children attend classes under trees. This is witnessed in the area that I come from. Today, there was a report that some two children died out of eating maize which was meant to be used as seed for planting. I feel that these children have no proper access to education. Another issue is that the teacher- student ratio in Kenya is three times what is expected at the international level and twice what is expected in Africa. In Kenya, we do not have enough teachers for the students we have. Therefore, I recommend that the Jubilee Government starts with employing teachers. When you look at 40 per cent of the Kenyan children who are between the ages of five and seven years; who are supposed to be accessing education, you will find that they do not attend any schools. Therefore, a mechanism should be put in place to curb this. With this kind of scenario, Kenyan children do not require laptops, but rather basic minimum facilities. To start with, we should provide them room to access basic education for those who cannot. Another thing is about availability of classrooms. The funds that have been allocated to cater for the laptops project are over Kshs100 billion per year. These funds, if you calculate properly, can be used to build more than 400,000 classrooms which is a better way to accommodate habitable classrooms for our pupils. Another thing that can be provided rather than laptops is basic materials. We need exercise books for these children. We need pens, pencils and text books and even provision of chalk. You will find that a teacher goes to class without pieces of chalk. How do you expect this teacher to teach Mathematics? I think this has been taken into account. As someone said, in a tailored programme a simple laptop will cost Kshs10,000. I know that children from rural areas will not afford to pay the Kshs8,000 that is supposed to cater for their access to education. It is my request that this Government should relook into this matter and provide the basic facilities to our students. Thank you."
}