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{
    "id": 562332,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/562332/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, to just help you also, look at what the TSC Act, which is very prohibitive, says in Article 26. It says:- “A person shall be eligible to be registered as a teacher is such a person- (a) is of good moral character; (b) holds a relevant certificate issued to him or her under any law relating to education and training or regulations made under this Act.” Article 27 further says:- “The Commission shall not register a person or a teacher if such a person does not possess the prescribed qualifications; in this case, a teaching certificate.” Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have quite a number of people who have formal qualifications up to secondary education level for primary schools and graduates who may not have trained in education who can fill the gap as we speak. In fact, a postgraduate diploma in education is still being offered at Kenyatta University. We should re-instate the untrained teacher programme. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the TSC Act is limiting in terms of allowing even the TSC or the Ministry of Education to re-instate this. That is why we are calling, through the Senate, for an executive order or what I would call a presidential decree to allow us – at this particular time and moment – to recruit people willing to serve as untrained teachers in regions that we come from. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, at the beginning, I said that the bad mouth of certain leaders; the trade unionists particularly my brother Wilson Sossion led to all that. I will share with you some information in a minute. When I took the data for secondary schools, the establishment is at 492 teachers. As we speak, those on duty in Wajir are 227 against an establishment of 492 teachers thereby giving us a shortfall of 265 teachers. At the primary level, we have an establishment of 1,538 whereas those on duty are only 885 teachers. That gives us a shortfall of about 763 teachers. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, many non-locals have left although insecurity is a big challenge and is a concern for all of us. At the primary level, 218 non-local teachers have left their duty stations; and 27 teachers left during the month of May after earning their first salary. Mind you, this is the new group who were recruited as a result of the advertisements which were made last by the TSC. In March, 2015, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) advertised 166 slots in secondary schools, where we recruited 65 teachers in Wajir. It advertised 206 slots out of which 197 were filled. Out of those, 27 teachers left after receiving their first pay in May. We had a chance as the leadership from the North Eastern region to sit down with the TSC and their secretariat. We made a number of proposals, including the untrained teacher programme, provision of incentives for those who are willing to work in hardship areas, improving entry grades for the teaching profession and shortening the number of years that teachers have to serve in an area. I think that so far nothing has taken off the ground. That is what is compelling us to actually call for the recruitment of our local people as untrained teachers. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want to refer my colleagues to the Budget Statement that was delivered by the Cabinet Secretary. On page 19 it says:-"
}