Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 521039,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/521039/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 93,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Abdi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 398,
        "legal_name": "Yusuf Hassan Abdi",
        "slug": "yusuf-hassan-abdi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker. I rise to support the nomination of the candidates for appointment as TSC Commissioners. The appointment of these people is long overdue, given the difficulties and the crisis in the education sector. Nevertheless, it is said that it is better late than never. What I would like to recommend to the TSC is that they should energise and restructure the Commission to enable it deal with the new challenges that it faces. I would like to reiterate the fact that it is important for the Commission to have dialogue with the teachers. Education is one of the most important sectors of our economy. Teachers are major contributors to the well-being and the development of our country. It is important for them to build their credibility and create conducive environment for engagement with the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), parents and other stakeholders in the education sector. I find it very strange that almost all the disputes in our country today are dealt with through shouting matches that play out in the media every day. What happened to dialogue; discussion and negotiations? It is important for the new team to create an atmosphere for teachers to sit down with them and discuss issues. Problems and disputes exist in every society, but what makes us different from others is our ability to manage those differences through negotiation and reaching deals. The ability to sit down with stakeholders and resolve issues is lacking in the TSC. Therefore, I would like to recommend dialogue for building of credibility and the trust that the teachers and other stakeholders need to have in the TSC. For heaven’s sake, let us look at the importance of the work that we are doing – of educating our children. It is the Kenyan child who suffers when industrial disputes are extended over long periods of time. On insecurity and the problems that some teachers have raised, while emphasising the fact that teachers should serve in any part of our country, it is also important for the Government to create the conditions necessary for them to work comfortably. It is not enough to say that a teacher has been employed. He or she has a contract and they must go anywhere despite the realities on the ground. I think we need to come to the middle ground. I would like to appeal to our colleagues in the north eastern region to stretch a hand of friendship to the teachers to make them able to go back and work with those communities, and educate the children of northern Kenya like any other child in our country. I think that requires leadership. It also requires courage, because no side should feel the victor and no side should feel vanquished. We should have a win-win situation in which our teachers can go and teach in those parts of the country, and at the same time our children can have the education that they need. Why should it be the way it is at the moment, and say that the children of northern Kenya will not get the education they need? Why should the teachers of Kenya not get the protection and the respect that they require to work in those communities and be able to achieve the objectives that we have as a nation? I think the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) can play a role. It can look for the middle ground that can bring these interests together, namely the students’ needs and the teachers’ needs; these groups should work in such a way that we can have a win- win situation rather than the problems that we have at the moment. I will encourage the new commissioners to go to the Commission with an open mind, and to be able to put into place a mechanism that will make it possible for the problems of education and teachers that we face at the moment to be resolved. This is so The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}