Dr. Valerian Kilemi Mwiria

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 161 to 170 of 862.

• 21 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: First, the parallel degree programmes were more less started by universities and not actually the Government. They were started by universities which as you know are independent, as a way of generating income to be able to meet some of their needs that were not being met because of the limited resources that were forthcoming from the Government. So, the Government cannot just go and say that you have to do it this way because the universities have different environments. They are operating under different circumstances and have different needs. view
• 21 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, secondly, the students in the parallel and regular degree programmes are not purely the same students in that most of the students in the parallel degree programmes as you know are the most competitive. They have the best grades. Although there are some very bright students in the parallel degree programmes, the majority are actually those with the lower grades. So, again, if you have to have a system that is merit based, there is no doubt that those who are coming to the universities, because they have chosen to do so and they have ... view
• 21 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the course is also different because when you come through the regular degree programme, you are heavily subsidized by the Government. In fact, what regular students are paying is peanuts. It is not anywhere near what they should be paying and that should be the case because a lot of them are being supported on the understanding that they are actually needy students and that universities essentially were meant for students who would have full scholarships from the Government. Whether or not all of them deserve, of course, is another matter as has been said. view
• 21 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I made the point already that enrolment in parallel degree programme is made by choice for both of those who are able to pay more and by choice for even many of those who cannot pay as much. You choose to go and the expectation is that if you choose to go and you know the implications of what you have to pay, then you would have to pay. That has to be taken into account even as you say that you have to ask for the same fees. view
• 21 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is not the case that all students who go for parallel degree programmes are actually poor students. In fact, now many rich students are going into those programmes and this introduces a complication that it is not as straightforward as we think; that a lot of the students who are going for parallel degree programmes are those who come from disadvantaged schools who are not able to get to university because of their backgrounds. There are many rich kids from rich families who come from top schools and join parallel degree programmes because they ... view
• 21 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a final reason for not going by the recommendation that hon. Chanzu makes is that there are budgetary implications. The Government would like to put in a lot of money for university education. One evidence that has not been possible is the opening up of universities to be more private or to have a private wing even in a public institution. This is because it is just not possible to cater for all the students that would like to join our universities because resources are not there and like I said earlier on, this is ... view
• 21 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that also contributes to expanding the pool of human resources that are available for both the public and private sectors but also for the wider East and Central market so that we now have Kenyans with education so that even if they do not find employment here, they will be sought after by countries like Somalia, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan and other countries in the Indian Ocean islands that are looking for teachers and graduates with certain qualifications that are not possible. view
• 21 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the definition about parallel and regular has been made and the point has been made that maybe even that itself is not such a positive outlook. That we should be thinking much more about talking about students and, in fact, that is why universities have now come up with another way of looking at it and talking about Module I and Module II students instead of talking about parallel and regular students. Now, with the free primary school education, there is even greater pressure on secondary schools to admit more and those numbers have to ... view
• 21 Jul 2010 in National Assembly: On a point of order, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Is it in order for the hon. Member of Parliament to say that the daughter forced him to do “a”, ”b”, “c”, “d”, yet she is not here to establish that? Is it not also true that the parent must have been interested in her pursuing that line and quickening the pace? view
• 30 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to congratulate all those who have spoken on this very important matter and the Committee for coming up with a report on a crisis that was, indeed, very unfortunate. view