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{
    "id": 686387,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/686387/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 133,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Nyamunga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 738,
        "legal_name": "Rose Nyamunga Ogendo",
        "slug": "rose-nyamunga-ogendo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I would like to support this Bill with a few remarks. If you look at the history of universities in Kenya, you will know we have come a long way. During our days, you would find 4,500 students only in the whole nation who had qualified to access university education. Before that, we only had Dar-es-Salaam, Nairobi and Makerere universities in this region. For a long time, university education was a preserve for a few people. We now have thousands of students accessing university education. As we expand, we should recognise the fact that the standards should be kept high and should get even better. I would like to support this Bill because it aims to streamline the management of the universities, the courses, mentorship and much more. Section 56 of the amendment will allow placement of university students to relevant courses. Right now, we have many cases of students who may have done very well and have their own aspirations. Maybe, some of them wanted to be doctors, lawyers, engineers and things like that. Sometimes, students with grade “A” are placed anywhere. The reason is because there is no proper guidance and alignment. Students are just placed without proper guidance and counselling. It is very important that mentorship of students does not stop in high school. It should go up to the university level because that is where students’ lives are determined. That is where they come to realise their dreams. Research is very important for any institution and, more so, for our universities. We lack research courses in our institutions and universities are just moving on. The world is moving on with technology, but our universities are at a standstill. Old tricks are still being used in the 21st Century. It is very important that a board that will give guidance is put in place. Money should also be allocated appropriately according to this Bill so that issues of research are well taken care of. That is because with research, we will endeavour to give our students what they need and the nation at large. If you look at developed countries, places like Korea and Singapore, we were at the same level with them at some point. Where did Kenya go wrong? It went wrong because we neglected some of the things that this Bill seeks to put in place. If we need to be industrialised, there are things that we must put in place for us to achieve that. We must have the right education and research if we are to turn and make our villages into small towns. Koreans are now reclaiming land from the sea to make cities out of it because of land scarcity. In Kenya, we have a lot of land and we can start developing that. Without putting that in people’s minds, the nation as a whole, the leadership and even the students---They should now know where we are shifting to. Are we shifting from the traditional courses like law and medicine? We should now shift from such courses to the relevant courses which will make us move from where we are to the next level. If we need to industrialise, what should we put in place, what kind of students should we have and what level of research should we have at the university level? Something that has already been mentioned by some of my colleagues is the issue of making available all courses in all universities. Kenyatta University was the only university offering a course in education. It is good to diversify. It is very important but I think they are over-doing it. We are focusing more on many numbers. It is better I have children in the house"
}