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{
    "id": 771999,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/771999/?format=api",
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    "content": "leading to either oversupply or undersupply of teachers in some public schools; NOW THEREFORE, the Senate calls upon the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology through the Teachers Service Commission to conduct a countrywide audit on the distribution of teachers in all public schools across the Country and report to the Senate within three months. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was to move this Motion in the last Senate but we were caught up with time. Initially in the Motion, I had wanted the Senate to set up a select committee to do the audit around the country but I was advised by the leadership then that that would have a budget attached to it and we were not ready to finance that kind of select committee at that time. That is why I amended the Motion to read that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in conjunction with the TSC to conduct a countrywide audit. I would have been more comfortable if the audit was done by a committee of this House. Be that as it may, we can still achieve the same results because the gist of this Motion is equity. What I am looking for by bringing this Motion is to ensure that there is equity. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are cases in the rural counties that we represent where the ratio of teacher to pupil is just pathetic and unbelievable. I went to a school and found a classroom where there were 102 pupils against one teacher. This was a lower class of class two or three. When you come to urban areas where everybody wants to be, the recommended ratio of teacher to pupil is 40 to one. However, there are public schools in these urban areas where the ratio is 25 to one. Where is equity? How do we expect these 102 children who are being attended to by one teacher to compete fairly with 25 pupils who have the privilege of being attended to by one teacher? There can be no competition. That explains why some of our rural schools have not been performing well in the national examinations. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when you talk to teacher unions like the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) they will tell you that there is a huge shortage of teachers yet the Government tells us a different story. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the 2014 Basic Education Statistical Booklet, a study that was conducted by the Government revealed that Kenya has enough teachers to handle early childhood, primary and secondary public schools. The study was released by the then Cabinet Secretary for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi on 5th October, 2015. According to this study, there are about 298,000 teachers across the country serving both primary and secondary schools. The report goes on to suggest that there are enough teachers but there is a huge disparity in distribution of these teachers. The report which was compiled by the Government indicated that the ratio of Government employed teachers to students was within unacceptable range and, instead, it blamed the problem on distribution of the available teachers across the country. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}