Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 562268,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/562268/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 239,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "June 25th, 2015 SENATE DEBATES 39 Sen. Abdirahman",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I add my voice to this very important Bill that touches greatly on our young people, particularly those below the age of five. In fact, were it not for our current Constitution that was enacted in 2010, particularly the chapter on devolution that specifically assigns county governments the role of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE), before that, things were completely different. ECDE was only an appendage of primary schools. There was no clear determination of the framework for governing them, teacher recruitment and the best way in which these young people could get education. I am particularly impressed by a number of areas that this particular Bill captures. I start by picking the first bit that relates to the management aspect, particularly obligating the county governments as a prime responsibility to ensure that they promote ECDE. As opposed to the national government that was mainly manned at the national level, but only with representation at the district level then, now, we feel that we will have people who will be doing work hands-on. They will establish these schools in collaboration with communities whether it is public or private. That gives people an opportunity, including parents, to look after their children very well. I am also impressed to look at the duties of parents explicitly put in the Bill. Many parents think that they have no responsibility with regard to looking after the welfare of their children. They want to send them to schools in the morning and probably, receive them in the evening as though these are dumping sites. Sometimes mothers and fathers feel that they have other things to engage in, and that, the teacher is the person responsible for their children. Spelling out this clearly in the Bill will help us to identify who is responsible for this and the other, so that it becomes a shared responsibility. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, identifying children with special needs early enough will forestall a problem that would be detected at later stages in life. Many a times, our schools do not have specific areas for children with special needs. Identifying them at the early childhood age would be crucial to determine whether these children will learn along with others or whether they will need to be categorized as children with special needs and we prepare them early enough. Other areas that this Bill touches on, which I felt would be very useful, are the mobile schools. My sister who comes from the lakeside city had picked the same thing. To a pastoralist like me, when I see a law about mobile schools at this early age, I get the feeling that this Bill caters for the needs of all Kenyans irrespective of the regions which they come from. It is something worth noting. Unfortunately, recently, the Ministry of Education has constituted a Nomadic Education Council, something similar to a department. We had asked for a commission at the beginning but the fact that this is factored in this Bill will help the nomadic population in this country to benefit greatly from the provisions of this Bill. In addition, another area which I felt was important is the ability of the boards to suspend centres that do not perform well. This gives an opportunity to the people at the lower level to either allow a centre to continue or disallow it for a genuine reason. It helps monitor much more efficiently."
}