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"id": 862198,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
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"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
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"content": "imprisonments. This is because if people in the villages are fined Kshs300, they will not be able to raise it, they will just end up in jail. Therefore, I propose that Clause 7 be recast so that parents who break the law by not taking their children to ECDE classes are named, shamed and punished through community service. They could, for example, be made to sweep markets or cut grass in schools so that other children can see that they are the offenders and they be brought to order. However, I will not go the route that the Bill proposes of fining or sending somebody to jail for a period of one year. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the parent being sent to jail could be the only provider for the family. So, the child will be deprived much more than education by jailing the father or mother for one year. Sometimes, we have single parents. Therefore, if we jail a single parent, who will take care of the child? Therefore, this provision of fines and custodial sentence should be removed altogether. I say this because being a professor of law yourself, you know the risk of misapplying the law. You will find over-enthusiastic law enforcers dragging parents to court and when they get to court, it has a tendency of imposing the slightest fine but with an alternative custodial sentence to people who cannot afford. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also support the provisions of Clause 8 on the duties of the head teachers in maintaining proper records in school and making sure that children who go to school get the correct facilities. It is very important in terms of standardization. Although ECDE centres are domiciled in the counties, for purposes of shaping our children in a unitary state like we have, to have uniform standards for Mandera, Nairobi, Bungoma, Tharaka-Nithi, Bomet and everywhere else. ECDE teachers must be trained with a common curriculum in those colleges. I see no mention by the sponsor of the Bill of training curriculum in the school for ECDE teachers. I want the provisions in the Bill to also provide for a standard curriculum for ECDE teachers. Such that an ECDE teacher trained in Turkana is the same as one teacher trained in Murang’a, Nairobi and elsewhere. This will help them start off the foundation of children at the same level. They either get it right early enough or ruin the children forever. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you may recall that in the old days - this is also not provided although there is a casual mention of culture and so on -when we were going to school from pre-primary to standard four, we used to be taught in vernacular. Therefore, people are also meant to understand their cultural activities, orientation and language. Our Constitution recognizes that we are different nationalities in terms of culture. There is no point to deny children in Turkana an opportunity to learn Turkana language at their formative stages or in Bomet to learn Kipsigis language which is a dominant language and so on. We must have uniform standards for teachers. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, even if the management of these schools is under the counties, they set up boards of management to ensure that facilities are readily available. However, I encourage ECDE teachers to find a way of being part of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for purposes of standardization. Such teachers, within the context of the counties, should be transferable from one school to another so that they do not become owners and fixtures in the school once they are employed. This is because I have The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}