HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 92841,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/92841/?format=api",
"text_counter": 204,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Duale",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Livestock Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 15,
"legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
"slug": "aden-duale"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand to support Vote 31 for the Ministry of Education. On the outset, I want to commend the Minister and his team. Recently they went to northern Kenya. They went to every district and talked to all the stakeholders in education. I want to ask other Ministers in the Grand Coalition Government to follow suit. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think in education we must address key issues like access to education, equity, quality of education and relevance of education. I want to borrow from what is happening in northern Kenya. All these issues are major factors. Under the Nomadic Education Commission that is in the pipeline, we expect the Minister for Education and his team to analyse the social, cultural, political and economic factors driving educational marginalization in North Eastern Province. We expect the Minister and his team to conduct a stastical analysis of the education situation in Northern Kenya. It is with this in mind that 47 years down the line, given factors in northern Kenya that impact negatively on education, the standards are very pathetic and worrying. We need Parliament to address that. Take for example, 33.2 per cent of the population in North Eastern Province having enrolled in schools against the national figure of 76 per cent. Central Province has an enrolment rate of 92 per cent in schools. Worse still, only three per cent of the people in North Eastern Province have attained secondary education. More worrying are the statistics for women, which is 0.5 per cent. When you compare these figures with other regions and national figures, then you ask yourself why it should be the case, 47 years down the line, while there was a Government and the Ministry of Education. What went wrong? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if I come to my own constituency, the figures are very worrying. I gave the Minister the figures when he was in my constituency. The gross enrolment rate in Dujis is barely 30 per cent. This is a very worrying figure. The official enrolment in primary schools by pupils of school-going age of six years and above is very low in my constituency. It is about 25 per cent. When we go to retention rate, in Garissa District, the retention in primary schools stands at 75 per cent for boys and 49 per cent for girls. The transition rate is even worse in my constituency; it is 60 per cent for boys and 42 per cent for girls. These are figures for transition from primary to secondary schools. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when the Minister and his team are looking at the forthcoming Nomadic Education Policy, they should address these issues. That is why the people of northern Kenya, in their wisdom, overwhelmingly voted for the new Constitution. About 98 per cent voted for the document. They felt that it was time they should manage their key sectors. They felt it is time that their own counties can manage and solve the problems the education sector is facing. Therefore, for the North Eastern Province to vote 98 per for the Constitution, it was not by default. It was on purpose and it was as a result of 47 years of marginalization by the Government. We must access the intervention that the Ministry of Education has targeted in reducing the marginalization of northern Kenya in education. Even after a new Ministry of Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands had been put in place by the Grand Coalition Government, three years down the line, the education indicators--- These are the same indicators for northern Kenya you will find in health, infrastructure and all sectors of the socio-economic set up of this country. I think it is high time that Prof. Ongeri and his team felt that North Eastern Province needs special attention. North Eastern Province needs a marshal plan in terms of education. They should also feel that the Nomadic Education Commission is the right vehicle and forum. I urge my colleagues that when that Motion of the Commission comes before the House, we will count on those of us who are from the pastoral communities and Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) to reduce the period and say we are part and parcel of Kenya. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}