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{
    "id": 686412,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/686412/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 158,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Dido",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2749,
        "legal_name": "Col (Rtd) Ali Rasso Dido",
        "slug": "col-rtd-ali-rasso-dido"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I wish to add my voice to this Bill. I rise to support it. The university is a fountain of knowledge. This is a place where we incubate the true future leaders of this land. What we have seen in the recent years is the mushrooming of universities where, even in the Central Business District (CBD) of Nairobi, you will find about 10 or 20 university colleges in the most inappropriate places. Through such, quality is affected. If the university is the fountain of knowledge, such location undermines and says a lot about what it stands for. In this Bill, one of the issues that have been articulated is the variation of charter. The guiding principle of Kenya into the future is Vision 2030. If we are not looking at training, research, technology and skills development, then the universities are not likely to do much in helping Kenya to progress into the future. Our universities, particularly the private ones, appear to duplicate what public universities do. A university charter is given by the Government. Whereas we should not stifle private enterprise, we must see to it that private universities offer something different and special to the young people of Kenya. University education still remains a preserve of those who have means. The poor still do not access university education, whether they get Grade B or A. The poor student who gets Grade A and would want to do medicine will not likely do it because missing half a point means that they are admitted to courses which they have not applied for and which they would not wish to undertake. Universities have been categorised into the moneyed and the poor. Regular students are about only 20 to 30 per cent of the student body, while 70 per cent are on parallel programmes. I do not know how many Kenyans would afford to pay Kshs100,000 every three months to get university education. This means the best and brightest students are still left in the villages and towns to eke out a living and yet, they are qualified to join universities. It is only that they do not have money to achieve their lifetime dreams. On the courses, I think one of the major things for Kenya as a developing country is to develop technology-based courses and to allow the young minds who are really interested and have qualified to do courses in medicine and engineering to do them. But the sad part of it is that there are only four universities in Kenya that offer medicine. They are:- University of Nairobi, Moi University, Kenyatta University and Jomo Kenyatta University College of Agriculture and Technology. The total number of doctors trained every year is less than 500 and yet, those who qualify to do medicine are in hundreds and thousands. It is high time we began to think out of the box and provide enough space. As opposed to taking 200 students on regular programme and another 300 on parallel programme, I think we as a country can do better. The other area is on quality of education. Those who have spoken before me have touched on this matter. When a university course is offered, there must be a professor who is the head of that course. If there is no professor heading a course, its quality is undermined. When universities are given charters, one of the things they must put down in writing is the number of professors they have."
}