Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 563906,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/563906/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 171,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Obure",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 118,
        "legal_name": "Christopher Mogere Obure",
        "slug": "christopher-obure"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I appreciate your remarks. Let me start my contribution by thanking my leader, Sen. Abdirahman, for moving this Motion, which brings into focus the predicament facing learning institutions and particularly children in the three counties of North Eastern Kenya. This Motion tells a very sad story; that in some parts of this country, children cannot access education because of security challenges. The provisions of our Constitution, more specifically Chapter 4, Articles 43 and 53, are categorical on the rights of children. Children have a right to free and compulsory basic education. Nobody can take away this right, regardless of the circumstances. On the contrary, all of us are obligated by the Constitution to do everything possible to ensure that children everywhere in this Republic enjoy that fundamental right. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we all know that the country has a shortage of up to 87,000 teachers. We also know that the three counties of North Eastern Kenya share the greatest number of this teacher shortage. In the case of the three counties, the situation is made worse than saying that many of the teachers who were manning schools in that region actually came from outside that region. Many of those teachers from outside North Eastern took this decision not to report back to their stations of duty because of the security challenges in the region. These very unfortunate developments have led to the closure of schools and other learning institutions in that region. We, as a country, must now urgently consider the adverse implications of the closure of schools in the three counties of north eastern region and, indeed, the other counties which the last speaker mentioned. We need to consider the implications for the individual children now and in the future. We also need to consider implications for their families and the community of the region as a whole and the impact that this closure of schools is going to have on the social and economic development of the region in the long-term, taking into consideration that we have had complaints from the three counties in the north eastern region about historical marginalization. I fear that there is a huge potential that this closure could aggravate this marginalization. I do not think we need that at this moment when we are implementing devolution. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, more importantly, what message are we sending out by closing schools in the three counties of north eastern region? What are we saying to our people? Are we saying that we have given up and have surrendered because of 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."
}