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{
    "id": 945944,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/945944/?format=api",
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    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity. I thank the author of this Motion. I want us to stick to what the Mover said about this Motion – the 100 per cent transition to tertiary education and not university. I love the definition of tertiary education because the World Bank puts it very clearly that it starts from vocational training, colleges for diplomas and universities for degrees and academic research. I want that to be held up because we, at times, intimidate our children that they must go to universities. But I always tell them that wherever you start does not matter as long as you are focused and you know where you are going. I would like to put across a few points because many have already been said. One, it would be nice to have a career centre in every constituency so that kids can be guided on courses to pursue when they go to those tertiary institutions. Secondly, as it has been said, why is it that the Government cannot put a Technical Training Institute (TTI) in every constituency? As we talk about 100 per cent transition, we have to talk about access to those institutions. In my constituency, I am paying rents for students and I know every Member does that. Sometimes, you have to pay for their upkeep and food. We are now at around 80 per cent and, as we move to 100 per cent transition, how will you cope with those needs? We should be realistic as we support this Motion. We also need to do job market analysis for those trainings. The universities have now developed behaviour of offering subjects or courses for their own gain. When graduates leave those colleges, they have no jobs. We want to appeal to the Commission for Higher Education to look into courses, whether they are benefitting the institutions financially or they are beneficial to the students. It should not go without saying that parents have a role to play as we want kids to transit to those institutions. Parents put a lot of pressure on their children. The fact that you are a lawyer does not mean that your child must become a lawyer. Give them the opportunity to decide what they can become when they grow up. That has forced some kids to drop out of school because of pressure. They cannot fit the expectations of the parents. I can testify that a friend studied to be a carpenter, but ended up being a doctor. He continued making chairs in his clinic. Transition to tertiary institutions should mean that you are moving to do post-secondary school training and that can be a certificate course in a vocational training centre, a diploma course in a college or a degree in a university. We also need to have those degrees. There was a Member who said here that those who have done formal trainings in universities are not good after graduating. We need engineers, lawyers, doctors and political scientists. We are saying that the bulk of the people cannot reach there and we have them in our constituencies. Why do we not invest in technical training so that once they finish, for example a certificate course, the credits can be transferred to a higher level of institution and we do not lose them? Lastly, it has been said here that policy is one thing and making it work for the people is another thing. We ask the Mover of the Motion to develop it into a Bill. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I yield my time to other Members."
}