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{
"id": 942239,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/942239/?format=api",
"text_counter": 67,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Igembe Central, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kubai Iringo",
"speaker": {
"id": 1574,
"legal_name": "Cyprian Kubai Iringo",
"slug": "cyprian-kubai-iringo"
},
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Motion by Hon. John Wambugu in regard to the hierarchy of education in this country. I commend the Member for coming up with this Motion to complement what the Government is already doing in as far as free education and transition are concerned. Furthermore, he is putting emphasis on what happens after one is done with secondary level education. This Motion is timely. Currently, in as much as the Government is struggling to see that each child goes to school, gets educated and reaches a level they can, the rest thereafter is left to the parents and the students. Once the students are left on their own, especially those from poor families, they do not get any further training and, therefore, they just go to the job market without skills. Others do not even get to the job market, but engage in other activities which end up spoiling the children and the young generation. If the Government can afford free primary education where pupils are educated up to Standard Eight, and now the Jubilee Government has emphasized on every child who gets to Standard Eight transiting to Form One and completes high school, before we get to the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), the same emphasis should continue from Form Four. What happens to that student? They are still teenagers. They are young and need to develop skills before they mature so that they can proceed. But if they are left at that level and they do not continue, despite the efforts, the input and the resources that have been put by the Government from Standard One to Form Four, they will go to waste. It will just be water under the bridge because from there, the child requires skills mostly. I appreciate the fact that the Government is trying to put up tertiary technical training institutes in every constituency and the emphasis should be continued and fast-tracked. But these institutions charge some fees. If one has been sponsored up to Form Four, and the sponsorship ends there, you do not proceed to a tertiary institution. So, it is important for the Government to factor in some money in its Budget, so that when one gets to Form Four, then they are sponsored to go to university if they qualify. They are also sponsored to go to technical training institutes to acquire skills which can make them earn a daily living. They can be sponsored to train as nurses, teachers or any other training. Once we end it there, it becomes very difficult. I am not forgetting the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) which gives loans to the needy students. I am aware even in the technical training institutes, some subsidy is given by the Government, but that is not enough. A student is required to get his own hostel. The student is supposed to get tools for the training and get food and many other accessories, which are required for the technical jobs. So, I agree with Hon. Wambugu that we need to push further and get 100 per cent transition, 100 per cent sponsorship and 100 per cent follow-up. Once the youngsters are through with their education, they are accomplished plumbers, masons, machine operators, carpenters or any other field in which they have trained. When they go to the job market, they are resourceful. Presently, students leave Form Four with good marks, but they do not go to university. At the end of the day, they become boda boda operators or hustlers here and there, hawking small 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."
}