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{
    "id": 950983,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/950983/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 380,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ndhiwa, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Martin Owino",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13449,
        "legal_name": "Martin Peters Owino",
        "slug": "martin-peters-owino"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I appreciate the time you have given me to contribute to this Bill. This is the time when a child can learn when an “A” is straight or inverted. That can go a long way as an indicator of dropping from school or not. As it is now, ECD classrooms are in a deplorable condition. I want to link this to Part II of this Bill on the right to early childhood education. Under that Part, sub-clause 5(1) says: “Every child has the right to free and compulsory early childhood education in a public education centre.” The word “public” is good, but we need to do more. As another Member said here, we need to harmonise this. We are now building schools through the NG-CDF and advocating for infrastructure money to come from the Ministry of Education, but the ECD is left to the county governments. So, what sense does it make when you cut a child into two? Dividing basic education into two categories and addressing issues in only one category is doing a disservice to our children. Early childhood education is the foundation of education. I will suggest at an opportune time that we make amendments to harmonise education, so that we can deal with it from the national point of view. Even the funds that are allocated to the counties for this kind of activity can well be done through NG-CDF, so that when you start a primary school, you do not build modern classes with tin and iron sheets that have rusted in the middle for children. Sub-clause 5(2) says that the right of early childhood education shall be enjoyed without discrimination. How can we talk of discrimination when the places the children learn in are not uniform? Some children learn in good classrooms while others learn in dirty classrooms infested with jiggers, where they pick diseases of various kinds. So, let us not be theoretical about advocating for free and compulsory childhood education when practically, some children are being discriminated against because of infrastructure. Children face a lot of hardships occasioned by bad learning environment with no toilets. Young children are vulnerable to various communicable diseases. We do not have appropriate toilets for children. If we cannot transfer 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."
}