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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you look at Part 2 of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, you will realize that functions that relate to agriculture, health services, county transport, trade, issues of development, planning, public works and even early childhood education have mostly been devolved. In view of that fact, it is only proper then that the amendments that are proposed in this Bill in the creation of universities in the counties will help to tailor-make certain programmes for them. For example, if we look at certain counties that are basically tourist destinations like Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi and those that are cosmopolitan, like Nairobi, they have specific needs even in terms of education cannot be universal. Therefore, the CUE must be engaged at all times with the national Government and county governments to ensure quality education and address issues of accreditation and other related issues that we have dealt with in this Senate from time to time. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this will also help to bring education closer to the people in the spirit of devolution. We know that even historically areas that hosted institutions of higher learning attracted more people to education, and by extension, most of the people from that region upgraded their levels of education. Under a controlled system, taking an institution of higher learning to a county will, by extension, be attractive to the people of that county and encourage most people, if not to upgrade, but also get into the education system. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to give a dissenting view with regard to what is happening right now. Many polytechnics, middle level colleges and other tertiary institutions are being upgraded to universities. In my opinion, this is not the way to go because these middle level colleges and tertiary institutions absorb many young people who do not make it to the universities. Traditionally, there are also platforms on which we have given a lot of courses that impart a lot of skills, especially to the youth, who then do not necessarily have to be employed, but proceed to be self-employed. So, institutions that are already in operation, for example, polytechnics - offering agricultural or skill-based courses, should be upgraded to continue doing so. They should be facilitated and given enough budgetary allocation and not wound up and upgraded into universities. Universities should thrive alongside all these kinds of institutions, so that we give the nation and counties an all-round system of education. We should not force everybody to go up to university. However, we should appreciate that there are those individuals who can gain very credible skills at the tertiary level and proceed to give a lot of human resource in necessary areas. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in this regard, having made reference to Part 2 of the Fourth Schedule and, in view of the fact that these institutions will be a platform of encouragement to allow the county governments to create specific centres of excellence in their respective counties, they will be the primary beneficiaries of the research findings from these institutions. They will also be the primary beneficiaries of employment and wealth creation from these institutions. Definitely, these institutions will be big consumers of products from that county. Therefore, the poverty circles in certain communities and counties will also be broken through this initiative. 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."
}