Prof. Sam Ongeri

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 1901 to 1910 of 1925.

• 25 Mar 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. (a) I am aware that the schools in question did not receive Government funds for free secondary education in the first disbursement. (b) The Ministry of Education will see to it that all deserving children benefit from the free secondary education programme by working with its field officers towards ensuring that all the necessary information is availed. The most critical information to facilitate disbursement is availability of enrolment figures and bank accounts. The four schools have now met all the conditions to receive the funds. The schools will receive the funds before the ... view
• 25 Mar 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, one such condition is that there must be a properly registered school in accordance with the Education Act. Otherwise, we will allow so many mushrooming schools from the periphery wanting to compete for free secondary education support. Two, it must open a tuition account far away from the normal school account that runs other services. Three, it must open an operation account that will operationalise its activities in that respect. Fourth, it must have an up to date enrolment figures. The schools were pre-warned that, come January, 2008, one of the criteria that will be used in ... view
• 25 Mar 2008 in National Assembly: Yes, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am aware that there was a circular which was sent to all the schools in the country requesting them to have a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 45 students in their classrooms. This circular was sent out on 9th January, 2008, while I was appointed the Minister for Education on the 8th January, 2008. The circular went out a day later and I had not even known about it. I have since then, on several occasions, reassured hon. Members that no single child will suffer on account of enrolment figures. What it means ... view
• 25 Mar 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the hon. Deputy Speaker knows very well that there are special programmes for infrastructure development in the ASALs, which started last year. Admittedly, you cannot create infrastructure instantly. It is a process but they are favoured people. You will be the recipients of the ultra-modern infrastructural facilities in the form of schools and boarding facilities. We realise how difficult it is to educate our children in those areas under those circumstances. Secondly, yes, indeed, there is a shortage of teachers, both at the secondary and primary school levels. I have done an assessment, but we cannot access ... view
• 25 Mar 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, if Mr. Farah wants me to surprise him in this august House, I will do so by providing the exact statistics of what has been done by the previous nine Parliaments in North Eastern Province. However, I do not have the statistics right now, because I did not anticipate a question of that nature. I will give them to him. Secondly, I have looked at the current line of Budget. I am fully briefed, and have seen with my own eyes that these areas stand to be favoured by a special Budget line, which will cater for ... view
• 25 Mar 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, not only have I taken action but have also--- Last week, I had a meeting with all the Provincial Directors of Education. They are under firm instructions to visit each and every school through their District Education Officers (DEOs) and Assistant Education Officers (AEOs) and provide, to my office, any schools that might have missed out in the disbursement of these funds, and to give me reasons for this. Therefore, that situation is under control. We do not have to issue a second circular. Secondly, unfortunately, some unscrupulous people sent us private bank account numbers. We were ... view
• 25 Mar 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the framework under which the free tuition and infrastructure arrangements were done did not factor in the question of examination fees. The examination fees is the responsibility of the parent. That is part of the responsibility that they must shoulder. The Government has relieved the heavier burden from parents, so that they can attend to some other things. Whereas before parents used to pay substantial sums of money towards tuition and provision of equipment and other facilities to schools, now they are relieved of that March 25, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 361 responsibility. What, probably, you could be ... view
• 25 Mar 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have no experience in providing free tuition to private sector schools because they are based on a free enterprise basis. I am not quite sure how I can bring that proposal to this House, when it is well known that the money would go to the free enterprise situation. Admittedly, they help to educate some of our children. There is no doubt about that. The only parallel I can draw relating to this matter was when I was the Minister for Health sometime ago. We realised that there was a good amount of contribution by hospitals ... view
• 25 Mar 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, Mr. Oparanya will appreciate that, that is an entirely different Question; in a different casting and it requires a bit of mathematical calculations. It also requires that I look at the Budget and see how much money is available. I request him, and solicit for his support, that when the Supplementary Budget comes here, he should be the first one to support it. view
• 25 Mar 2008 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish to respond to Mr. ole Metito's point of order of Thursday 28th March, 2008 in which he asked for a Ministerial Statement from my Ministry on the 2007 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results in order to clarify the correct position with respect to the results. Before I make my Statement with respect to the error in the calculation of the mean grade that occurred in the 2007 KCSE results, allow me to shed some light on the examination marking process in order to provide background information to hon. Members. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in ... view