Dr. Valerian Kilemi Mwiria

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 561 to 570 of 862.

• 18 Apr 2007 in National Assembly: Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I would like to say, at the very outset, that obviously, we all support this Motion. I would like to explain some of the circumstances that have led to our current situation, beginning with the fact that the current ceiling of 250,000 teachers that we employ was set up in 1997. It was not anything to do with the structural adjustment programmes, like I also used to think, but it has more to do with the enrolments at the time in terms of how many children were enroled ... view
• 18 Apr 2007 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the shortage is big. We need, at least 45,000 teachers for primary schools and 10,000 for secondary schools. It is unfortunate because we have up to 60,000 registered unemployed teachers. Many others have graduated through private institutions. So, in terms of actual numbers, we would not have to go outside. The teachers are already there. It is just a question of coming up with the resources. While we are going through this difficult time, we have indicated that we also should try other innovations. Can we do much better with the teachers that we have? ... view
• 18 Apr 2007 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not remember saying that. view
• 18 Apr 2007 in National Assembly: It can become an argument because I do not even remember alluding to that fact. I have explained the difficulties that we are facing. I said that there is a shortage of teachers. We appreciate and accept that fact as a Ministry. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was saying that what we should be thinking about, instead of building more teacher training colleges in view of the shortage of teachers, we should convert those colleges into diploma-granting institutions. They also could be institutions where students could start training as teachers and, eventually, graduate to universities. We have such situations ... view
• 17 Apr 2007 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. 650 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 17, 2007 (a) The Ministry has been awarding scholarships in terms of regions, provinces and not constituencies. The available records held in the Ministry are most recent. Records dating way back to 1963 are not available and, therefore, it is not possible to give the number of Government scholarships awarded to the people of Laisamis Constituency since then. (b) Due to the reason given in part "a" above, there is no list of beneficiaries from the constituency. (c) Most of the scholarships are received from friendly countries, and are ... view
• 17 Apr 2007 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I think the hon. Member is asking me when we began to desegregate. I was asked another Question recently in this House on scholarships for the period 2003 to 2007, and I answered it. But I must also say that in 1963, there was no constituency called Laisamis. So, it is not possible for me, even if I wanted to, to go back and give information on Laisamis Constituency covering that period. view
• 17 Apr 2007 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am, indeed, aware that before this regime, scholarships were never given fairly. That is why in 2003, we came up with criteria, which is based on all the factors that the hon. Member is talking about. I said that we consider regions, gender and areas that have been disadvantaged historically. I did answer an almost similar Question in the last Session of this Parliament. I did give a list of distribution of scholarships for the period 2003 to 2006. We did explain and it was found that a great deal of effort had been made to ... view
• 17 Apr 2007 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I mean provinces. view
• 17 Apr 2007 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is no measure I can take to ensure that there is enough money. It will never be enough, but we can give the first priority to those areas. I said before that if you look at the list of the scholarships that we have awarded since 2003, you will see that every effort has been made to ensure that regions such as north eastern Kenya have been included in the awards. With regard to local scholarships - the bursaries - again, this money is given on the basis of need. We make an effort to assist ... view
• 17 Apr 2007 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, if I knew it was true, I would have done something about it. Unfortunately, I do not know. Actually, I would like to believe that it is not true. I would like to have some evidence about it, because it is a serious allegation. We consider ourselves a Government that should have the interests of all regions in mind. So, please, if I could have some information, I would be quite happy to react to the allegation but, I would hate to believe that this is the way we have been going as a Government, because it ... view