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{
    "id": 516832,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/516832/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 338,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bowen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2256,
        "legal_name": "David Kangongo Bowen",
        "slug": "david-kangongo-bowen"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I rise to oppose the Motion, as amended. In any competition, we must have a fair referee and a fair playing field. You cannot talk of comparing or ranking a school in Nairobi and a school in Turkana, where we have a serious insecurity situation, with children learning under trees without school equipment. Maybe, before we talk of ranking, we must ensure that our schools have standard facilities and are equally resourced. As we speak, we have a serious shortage of teachers across the country. We cannot be talking about ranking schools as per this year’s results when we know that there are no teachers in North Eastern region. There are no teachers in Mandera and Garissa counties, and in other parts of the northern Kenya region and yet, we are talking of putting students in that region in the same measure with students in Nairobi and other parts of the country. Ranking has made some schools to engage in malpractices so that they can top the list of ranking. Ranking has led to cheating and corruption in schools. Some schools go to the extent of corrupting examiners so that they can top the ranking list. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, ranking is just a marketing tool for private schools. It is nothing else! We have seen strong opposition coming from the private schools associations. Before we talk of ranking, let us ensure that the infrastructure in all public schools across the country is of the same standard. We want school “A” to compete with school “B” when they have an equal number of teachers, enough libraries, enough laboratory equipment, enough teachers and own the resources. We have even seen university students who have graduated with First Class Honours. However, when they go for interviews as accountants or software engineers like me, they cannot even write a simple arithmetic programme. The education sector in the country is focused on schools becoming number one. We are not looking at the quality of the school curriculum. We want to develop a curriculum where you can have even a Class Eight student understanding what he or she is going to do in the future. We do not just want to make our students cram exams for the sake of becoming number one in school. We want to make them professionals. We want to make them acquire skills and expertise for their future professions. Even though the Motion has been amended by hon. Nyikal, you cannot again force the Government to implement all the resolutions of this House, especially when it comes to policy making. You can only engage the Government when it comes to policy issues. This is not legislation but a policy matter under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology."
}