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{
    "id": 802377,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/802377/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Sossion",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13171,
        "legal_name": "wilson sossion",
        "slug": "wilson-sossion"
    },
    "content": "Thank you Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the Motion on the Budget prepared by the Budget and Appropriation Committee. I will talk on the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and education. I laud this country as being one of the few countries in the world that has devoted its Budget to education within the international minimum set standards of six per cent of GDP and 20 per cent of the overall national Budget. In the last financial year, Kenya devoted about 5.9 per cent. This is quite commendable but we, as a nation, have emphasised a lot of focus on education within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda Framework No. 4 of delivering equitable, quality education for all. Our Constitution and the rest of the legal framework are very explicit on the provision of quality education. Education remains a fundamental right for every child. On this Budget, for the TSC, the allocation stands at Kshs226 billion. If it remains as it is, it means the TSC shall not be able to recruit additional teachers in July 2018. Statistics from the TSC projects that, in the next four years, the teacher requirement in this nation shall be 150,000. The estimated and the proposed annual recruitment to bridge the gap is 22,000 at the rate of Kshs10 billion annually. Therefore, what this means is that the Budget and Appropriations Committee ought to work further, despite having done an excellent job, to try and make available further funding to the TSC to ensure that more teachers are made available. The delivery of quality education in any classroom and learning institution can only be done through adequate teachers. I would wish to mention a specific provision in the SDGs Agenda No. 4 on how to ensure that the seven targets and the overall goal are achieved. There are three things that countries must invest in – school infrastructure, scholarships and teachers. The Stockholm Declaration and the framework for action is very specific in its wording; that, nations and countries must train, recruit and support enough teachers to deliver teaching. In this nation, we are aware of the shortage of teachers in all classrooms across the country. That shortage definitely puts this nation on a crossroads in terms of delivery of quality education. I propose that there is room for the Budget and Appropriations Committee to work further to offload. At the end of the day, the absence of teachers results in direct cost to the households. The unending and undeserved ever-rising cost of education which is reflected in fees and boarding schools directly arises from inadequate teachers. We believe that with the good work that the Budget and Appropriations Committee has done, including the process of public consultation they have engaged in – this is one such forum – it is possible that this House can affirmatively make Kshs10 billion available to guarantee recruitment of more teachers. There are reasonable sources of financing. In this nation, there are all indicators that tax evasion is very high. It rises into billions of shillings. The United Nations puts tax evasion at The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}