INTRODUCTION

1. TALKING POINT FOR HON. EKWEE ETHURO, MP TURKANA CENTRAL AND MEMBER OF THE SPEAKERS PANEL DURING A PUBLIC TALK FOR STUDENT COMMUNITY OF TURKANA IN KENYATTA UNIVERSITY

2. INTRODUCTION • Ladies and gentlemen its my pleasure, that you availed this opportunity for us to share as the people of Turkana, reflects on the stride we have made as a community and also focus on where we are headed to especially during this time when we have a new constitution, new discoveries in our land and most important focus on the lives of the people of Turkana.

3. Introduction (CONT) • Ladies and gentlemen today I know I am speaking to scholars and the future of Turkana and speaking about education could be one of the most challenging and difficult tasks to perform, since this is your arena of your daily commitment and practice. However I will focus my entire talk on the Role of education elements of a successful life in academic studies options in life.

4. EDUCATION • It common understanding of what education is construed to mean in the general. However because I am speaking to scholar, I am tempted to begin from a teachers point of view. What is education students? I know I could get as many responses as possible, but teacher Ekwee Ethuro will define it as follows “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school ~Albert Einstein” – I wish also to say that education is a functional scheme of the society and the state. its is as infinite as the earth yet a small dose of it makes such a big difference to a human society.

5. EDUCATION AND SOCIETY • It could be said that the role of education in society is to raise the level of awareness of as many people capable and willing to learn so that we as a society can better understand the nature of things, perhaps even come to understand the nature of nature. • It could also be said and in fact, just has been said but exactly what has been said? How do we as a society educate and how do we as a society take advantage of societies education? How do we best raise our level of awareness? • Is such an endeavor best facilitated by societal efforts or by individual efforts? • Does society learn in the same way any given individual might learn?

6. EDUCATION AND SOCIETY (CONT) • But you realize that Society and Education are both systems and systems have their place but they do not play their part. The system is the whole as you and I are just part of society and our teachers are just part of the education we received or receive. • For example the role of the professor is to educate, the role of the student is to learn, the role of the administrator is to facilitate a place for this to happen, these parts taken as a whole is what we call education-Therefore role a teacher or professor plays in society is to better facilitate education. • Education itself has no role it is but the system employed by those playing their roles and doing their part. • The only coincidence ladies and gentlemen the educations plays a major role on the society since is the barometer used measures the way things are supposed to be done. it places the standards of action to issues affecting the society directly and indirectly. As one on the Authors Will Durantin the US asserts “Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance.

7. ROLE OF EDUCATION IN THE SOCIETY TO COMPLETE THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS • The main social objective of education is to complete the socialization process. The family gets the child, but the modern family tends to leave much undone in the socialization process. The school and other institutions have come into being in place of family to complete the socialization process.

8. TO TRANSMIT THE CENTRAL HERITAGE • All societies maintain themselves, by exploitation of a culture. Culture here refers to a set of beliefs and skills, art, literature, philosophy, religion, music etc., that are not carried through the mechanism of heredity. They must be learned. This social heritage (culture) must be transmitted through social organizations. Education has this function of cultural transmission in all societies. It is only at the under leaves of the school that any serious attempt has been, or now is, made to deal with this area.

9. EDUCATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL PLACEMENT • An instrument of livelihood. Education has a practical and also it should help the adolescent for earning his livelihood. Education has come to be today as nothing more than an Instrument of livelihood. It should enable the student to take out his livelihood. • Education must prepare the student for future occupational positions, the youth should be enabled to play a productive role in society. Accordingly, great emphasis has been placed on vocational training which are part of the education system.

10. CONFERRING OF STATUS • Conferring of status is one of the most important function of education. The amount of education one has, is correlated with his class position. This is four in U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Japan, Germany and some other societies. • Education is related to one's position in the stratification structure in two ways. (1) An evaluation of one's status is partially decided by what kind of education one has received and (2) Many of the other important criteria of class position such as occupation, income and style of life are partially the result of the type and amount of education one has had. • Men who finish college, for example, earn two and a half times as much as those who have a primary or secondary school education.

11. REFORMATION OF ATTITUDES • Education aims at the reformation of attitudes wrongly developed by children already. For various reasons the child may have absorbed a host of attitudes, beliefs and disbeliefs, loyalties and prejudices, jealously and hatred etc. these are to be reformed. • It is the function of education to see that unfounded beliefs, illogical prejudices and unreasoned loyalties are removed from the child's mind, though the school has its own limitations in this regard, it is expected to continue its efforts in reforming the attitudes of the child.

12. EDUCATION ENCOURAGES THE SPIRIT OF COMPETITION • The school instills co-operative values through civic and patriotic exhortation or advice. Yet the school’s main emphasis is upon personal competition. For each subject studied the child is compared with the companies by percentage of marks or rankings. • The teacher admires and praises those who do well and frowns upon those who fail to do well. The school’s ranking system serves to prepare for a later ranking system. Many of those who are emotionally disappointed by low ranking in the school are thereby prepared to accept limited achievement in the larger world outside the school. • We people of Turkana must then develop the tendency to compete with other from other counties, with the discovery of oil and other important minerals that could also be discovered there is need to exercise our prowess, so that we do not have what Kenya has been yarning for many years and we cannot compete with other people, it time that we in these forum become the role model.

13. EDUCATION TRAINS IN SKILLS THAT ARE REQUIRED BY THE ECONOMY/STATE • The relation between the economy and education can be an exact one. For example the number and productive capacity of engineering firms are limited by the number of engineers produced by education. • In planned economy, normally it is planned years in advance to produce a definite number of doctors, engineers, teachers, technicians, scientists etc. to meet the social and economic needs of the society. • The Kenyan economy is today filled with an excess of certain careers due to lack of planning that is why our government is only able to employ teachers according to the years of completion due to lack of planning, never the less its through education that skills for the economy are trained.

14. FOSTERS PARTICIPANT DEMOCRACY • Education fosters participant democracy. Participant democracy in any large and complex society depends on literacy. Literacy allows full participation of the people in democratic processes and effective voting. • Literacy is a product of education. Educational system has this economic as well as political significance. Education Imparts values. • The curriculum of the school, its extracurricular activities and the informal relationships amongst students and teacher communicate social skills and values. Through various activities a school imparts values such as co-operation or atmospheric, obedience, fair play.

15. THE KENYAN GOVERNMENT AND EDUCATION • There is need to appreciate the government of Kenya for having introduced and maintained Free Primary education and subsidized secondary education, these are a major impetus to making our society free from ignorance. These empowerment has the capacity to develop this republic to the Kenya we want, education is a major engine that drives the vision of this nation as clearly envisaged in the blue print of vision 2030.We know that is has not been easy problems out an inch experienced fro example withdrawal of donor funding, corruption, delayed funding, misappropriation of funds, but is good to take appreciate that all these challenges not withstanding it is a step towards the right direction for these nation. We know of poor families in Turkana and else where who could not afford theses services now offered freely by the government and today we are that they beneficiaries will be light to that families, the constituency, the county and most in important this country which falls short of a trained human resources.

16. THE NEW CONSTITUTION ON EDUCATION • Today Kenya is riding the new constitution, and this is the dream this nation have always wanted to pursue, that every child has the right for Free and compulsory education Article 35(b) and these shall not discriminate, against any body including the marginalized like the people of Turkana. This is a new dispensation worth celebrating next week the Ministry for Education hosts members of Parliament for a two day retreat in Naivasha to take them through the proposed Education Bill and my role as a legislator is to ensure that will have a friendly law that will promote proper education for the people of Turkana who have been continuously marginalized by successive government. I will not accept a law that will not promote equity and justice in sharing of learning resources putting into account equity.

17. TURKANA AND THE NEW CONSTITUTION • Ladies and gentle men its in our role to ensure Turkana county becomes what we want of it- we are the Model and the dream of theses nation, Turkana will set pace for Kenya, but only if we focus on the target. Education being the pillar. The new constitution in more administrative as opposed to the older, the county government will need expats to run it and that is not a possibility if we do not have trained men and women, as I said before counties will compete and competition will be based will be based the number of resources we are able to generate that will only require a force of educated people. • We will need to elect leaders not necessarily those who sing the song of Turkana, but those who can be a model for the dream Turkana, leaders who has set the example Turkana needs, leaders who will a sacrifice to develop Turkana and leaders who have what it takes intellectually, morally and undoubted integrity to shape the future of Turkana in relation to Vision 2030.

18. TURKANA AND THE NEW CONSTITUTION • I clearly know that we have spent a good number of our resources from CDF, LATIF to give you bursaries and we will continue to do the same for those who deserve, The county government has equally been offered a lot of Funds for development and we the people must use the funds to expand our educational institutions, offer bursaries and other specialized needs that will be able to support education in Turkana. • The oil discoveries in Turkana and the excess water discovered under ground will only need educated people to support its growth and mining. I presented a petition in Parliament on behalf of the people of Turkana demanding involvement and clear structures on how we the people of Turkana should benefit. Its only our turn to ensure that we achieve our best with what we have.

19. CONCLUTION • Christ didn’t set up the Judea Compulsory School System. He issued an invitation, ‘Follow me,’ and some did, and some didn’t. And Christ didn’t send the truant officer after those who didn’t. • Education is the key to success we can only follow in the new sprit of the New constitution and we will see success in our families, this country and most Important our county. This will be pegged on the choices we have to make just like Jesus only made an invitation to be followed. I make this invitation follow this!

20. By Amos KiangweKenya National AssemblyResearch Assistant for Temporary speakerHon. EkweeEthuro