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{
    "id": 698356,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/698356/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 223,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Korere",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13134,
        "legal_name": "Sara Paulata Korere",
        "slug": "sara-paulata-korere"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Bill. At the outset, I want to congratulate the Senate for bringing this Bill which is very important to the lives of hundreds of thousands of our young children. This Bill is very important. I say that because the inequalities in the education sector in this country cannot be underrated. If you look at most of our rural areas, particularly the pastoralist areas, most children in the 21st Century do not access that very important facility of early childhood education. During our time, we could only proceed to Class One after you could raise your hand and touch your ear on the other side. This is still happening in some places. This is not because children or parents do not want to go through early childhood education, but because those facilities are lacking. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you can imagine a child of three to six years having to trek for six to eight kilometres to access a nursery school. Much as we appreciate education, and we know it is the foundation of everything, we must also mind about the distance those children cover. The Bill talks of county governments having to collaborate with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the County Education Board (CEB). This is very important. Noting that presently, the TSC employs P1 teachers who are basically certificate trained teachers to teach Class One to Class Eight, it is good to take one step at a time. An amendment should be brought later on as we discuss the Bill, so that we can start by having the certificate teachers teaching in early childhood education centres as they progress to diploma. We also need to upgrade teachers who teach at our primary levels. Devolution was meant to be a good thing. It was meant to bring services closer to the people. Early childhood education is important for the county governments. It is not just enough to say that we will have a free and compulsory early childhood education but how, we should enforce the law. Today in this country, we know that primary education is free and compulsory. It is very sad because we still have children who are roaming in the villages. Child labour is very high in some places because the implementation of the free primary education is missing. It is also important to note that we cannot enforce a law to make the people to compulsorily go to schools that do not exist. Going by what we are hearing and what I read in the newspapers today, county governments are investing too much in refreshments such as tea and entertainment. In my own county, they were talking of Kshs56 million. It is very sad because in Laikipia North, there are still children who are learning under trees in the name of ECDE centre. This is something that needs more commitment from all of us, including the county governments and the national Government, considering that we use taxpayers’ money. The taxpayer does not care whether the money goes to the county governments or the national Government. What is important is for resources to be put for the intended use. Regarding the enrolment age limit, I want to give some information to a colleague who spoke on this Bill earlier on. In some cases, it is not a must that a child is three to six years because there are dynamics of growth in children. There are children who have special needs and others who are slow learners. However, that does not mean they do not learn. Also, there is a very important group of children who have always been forgotten by the society. They are the group under special needs. Those are children who need a lot of attention right from the foundational years. The lives of most of the children with special needs are sometimes curtailed by negligence of their parents and their handlers in institutions of learning. When children with special needs are put in the same class with other children, they are often withdrawn and it becomes very difficult for them to learn. For lack of awareness, some parents tend to keep those The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}