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{
    "id": 697844,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/697844/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 255,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "October 6, 2016 SENATE DEBATES 26 Sen. (Prof.) Lesan",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I take this opportunity to second the Motion as one of those Senators who attended the Commonwealth Education Ministers Conference in Bahamas. This was a useful conference in that it brought together a wide variety of stakeholders dealing with matters of education, more particularly in the Commonwealth. In one of the side sessions that I attended while in this conference, was a session on the handling the threat that the education sector faces from terrorism. There were many concerns expressed by many participants in the conference as to the influence or the effect of terrorism worldwide on education and educational institutions. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this was a significant conference for us from Kenya because this is a point at which we felt that we were directly affected because this conference came a year after terrorism had affected and disrupted education in our country. The conference dealt with many issues, for example, how students particularly in education institutions can participate in managing or trying to contain terrorism. There were many suggestions in this conference which I thought were useful in handling terrorism in academic institutions by ensuring that the initial phases of radicalisation of students which usually happens in institutions is contained at an early stage. Methods of trying to do that were discussed in this forum. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there was also a huge concern in the conference about the disparity between the numbers of instructors in the institutions and the number of learners. In other words, it is the student/teacher ratio in the Commonwealth countries. There was nowhere which this concern was more worrying than in our country. The ratio between the teachers and the students is a concern to all of us and every Kenyan. We know the enormous shortage of teachers that this country is facing. This is a concern that was addressed in the Commonwealth Education Ministers. There were some concerns that the Kenyan delegation picked up from this conference. We have been sharing the information with the Committee on Education in the Senate and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as to how this problem can be handled throughout the Commonwealth, including our country. So, I want to be part of this Report which has been tabled and which reports on what transpired in the Bahamas. I must report to this House that the experiences that the Senators learnt from this conference is invaluable and we have used some of that experience."
}