Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 935148,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/935148/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 168,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Dennitah Ghati",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 856,
        "legal_name": "Dennitah Ghati",
        "slug": "dennitah-ghati"
    },
    "content": "Member of this House who has worked so hard within the UN settings. Therefore, she understands well issues of DRR. Therefore, she understands well issues of (DRR). This Bill has the best interests of our children and teachers. It seeks to protect our pupils and students who leave the confines and comfort of their homes to go to schools. Therefore, the school environment should be a safe haven for our students. What is still clear in my mind is the painful horror that happened nearly three months ago to our children who go to school at Precious Talent Academy along Ngong Road. These were young children of between ages eight and 15 years. They had left the confines of their homes to go to school to get education. What I and other Members of Parliament saw, was utter negligence by the school to ensure that the school environment was conducive for our children. That was something we could not buy. If you look at Garissa University, it is an institution of higher learning that was attacked by gunmen who killed students. It is not fair that our young ones who go to higher institutions of learning or vocational centers succumb to such attacks. That kills the hopes of their parents who take their children there to get education. Many of our schools have been bombed; they are no longer safe. How can we ensure that within our education sector and curriculum, our children get this education? The current curriculum does not factor in the issue of DRR. This is an important element that our schools need to offer. If you look at our counties, you will realise that in their setup, they are not well prepared to manage disasters. We have counties that do not own fire engine machines, especially the marginalised counties and their constituencies. If possible, every county and constituency in this country needs to own a fire-fighting engine that is working so that, in the event that fire or disaster strikes in schools, that situation can be well managed. I come from Migori County. It has also had a fair share of disasters of this nature. For example, Migori Boys, Uriri Boys and schools that were considered to be national schools have been victims. When you talk of national or county schools, you expect their systems to be working. I would suggest that, as we talk about this Bill, we ensure that our young children have this education in their school curriculum. The Ministry of Education must ensure that it mainstreams and puts in place a mechanism that will curtail issues of fire, bombs and other disasters that affect our children in schools. We need to ensure that, in this Bill, our staff are educated. We have teaching staff and subordinate staff who do not know how to handle an emergency in school. In schools that have dormitories, some of them do not have windows and accessible doors. Simple things like first aid need to be inculcated in our children right from early childhood education so that, as they grow up to primary and secondary education, then to institutions of higher learning like universities and colleges, they know what to do in case of a disaster, fire or any other emergency that strikes their schools. This is a Bill that the Hon. Member of Parliament for Turkana is proposing. I ask the MPs to support it. Kenya, as a country, is a signatory to a declaration that seeks to protect teachers and our students in schools. This declaration must be put into practice because our country has the best interest of our teachers at heart. It invests in education. Education and safety of our children is guaranteed in our Constitution. The Bill is a response to disasters in schools and proposes DRR interventions that need to be put into schools. So many children have lost their lives and yet, we thought that schools are safe environments in this country. In some cases, parents take their children to school and then they are called to pick bodies of their children who die in schools for burial. That is not the intention of education in this country. Therefore, this is something that we need to take seriously. We need to teach both our teachers and students about safety in our institutions. 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."
}