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    "id": 515289,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/515289/?format=api",
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    "content": "This Motion seeks to address the need to have a form of equalisation so that at the end of the day, we have all schools being referred to as county schools. This will ensure that we have equilibrium to equip all of them uniformly. In so doing, we shall have the best schools like it happens in the developed world. A secondary should be of a particular standard. We are trying to set a standard of performance in secondary schools in the education sector. Let all secondary schools have the best libraries, laboratories and teachers. Let us have standards. We should not have the mindset of feeling that a child who did not end up with a good grade cannot do well. The environment, socio-economic surrounding, the old boys’ ties, the social network and the cultural capital within any school is enough to push a child to perform very well. Therefore, the whole idea in this particular Motion is that at the end of the day, we need to have a change of approach so that we have categorisation that is streamlined and have students going to the right schools at the right time and doing different things. The reason why this is also very important is that, historically, the whole issue of marginalisation started with the nexus of national schools being found only in some places. In certain former provinces, now regions, specifically North Eastern, Coast and Eastern province, there were no national schools. Nyanza Province had only one national school which is Maseno School. The other three regions never had a national school. So, even the children from those regions really have to struggle harder to get into a national school where there are none within their own regions. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, two very important commissions were set up in this country after Independence. These are specifically the Kamunge Commission and the Koech Commission. They came up with very specific recommendations about certain key issues. Specifically, there was the issue of access, which is stipulated again in the Vision 2030, Millennium Development Goals and the Constitution; that education has to be a right for everybody. When you look at the transition rates especially from primary to secondary and secondary to university, there is a big drop. We need to think about why we have a problem of access. First, we do not have enough secondary schools within the country. For example, when we say that 600,000 are not going to get places within secondary schools, what do we mean? Is it the end of the road for them? Even for the ones that have a chance to go to school, we need to think about what sort of access they have to these schools. What type of schools will they join? The second issue that was very critical in the Commission’s report was the inequality and the skewed tendency that has been there. For example, I was looking at the statistics of the students who end up joining the University of Nairobi from the Coast region. The level is very low at only at 2 per cent of the transition of those from the Coast region who end up in the university. When you consider the gender aspect, you will find that very few girls make it to the University of Nairobi. The particular study was specifically for the University of Nairobi. But if you talk about equality, then we are asking ourselves: What is the chance for a person from North Eastern or Eastern region to make it to a good secondary school? So, the issue of equality is very critical. I also sit in the Committee on Cohesion and Equal Opportunity and the same issues come up. When you look at the patterns of employment within the various state organizations, are we over-represented, for example, by people from a specific ethnic 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."
}