SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY HON. MWAI KIBAKI, C.G.H., M.P., PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA DURING THE GOLD AWARD PRESENTATION CEREMONY, STATE HOUSE, GARDENS, NAIROBI, 1ST AUGUST, 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to preside over the presentation of the 2007 Gold Awards to the 290 young people assembled here today.

I congratulate each one of you for the hard work and dedication you have displayed during your training over the last 18 months. You have truly merited the certificates and medals awarded to you today. The Awards are testimony that you have acquired invaluable training in the areas of life skills, community service, endurance and determination. Indeed, I know that all of you dedicated many hours of community service in construction work in primary schools, peer education, environment campaigns, and helping the needy.

I also note that you have spent many hours in endurance and physical training that has prepared you to work as teams and utilize the available resources to achieve the tasks set out for you. The training and experiences you have undergone were tailored to enable you nurture the spirit of civic responsibility through community service. You are now equipped with positive values that will enable you to be of good service to your communities and the country. As Gold Award winners, you are expected to demonstrate the positive values you have learned in your everyday conduct in order to serve as role models to other young people in our country. In this respect, you should use your training and experiences to set worthy examples of personal conduct, civic responsibility, and community service to your peers and other Kenyans wherever you go.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Given the importance of schools and education in preparing our youth for their adult life, my Government has committed itself to giving each child an opportunity to be educated. We began with free primary education that is in its fifth year of implementation. Under this initiative, we have brought into class more than one and half million children. These would have missed an education, and therefore skills necessary to face life in a world that requires functional literacy in every aspect of life. Besides introducing free primary education, we are aware of the many children who still drop out of school for various reasons. For these ones, we are implementing a programme of reviving youth polytechnics throughout the country to enable them acquire appropriate skills to earn a decent livelihood. For those who are able to continue to secondary education, we have now increased the transition rate to over 70 percent. As a result, there are now over 1 million students in our secondary schools.

Personally, I would like to see as many young people as possible attain and complete their four years of secondary education. For this reason, my Government will waive the cost of tuition in all public schools with effect from January next year. We therefore expect many more children to complete their primary and secondary education as a result of these policies in the coming years. However, academic achievement alone is not enough to prepare the youth for the challenges they face in life. In this regard, the President's Award Programme is an important partner in preparing our youth to meet the challenges of this fast changing society by imparting skills and ensuring proper character building. I would like to challenge more young people to take advantage of the President's Award Scheme in order to benefit from the training opportunities it provides.

I am aware that the scheme is not enough to meet the needs of all our young people and help them to unlock their potential to contribute to their personal and national development. We must, therefore, foster character development in young people as an integral part of our national education system. We in Government are committed to this task. We will continue to allocate more resources to co-curricular activities such as sports, drama, music, scouting, and clubs in our schools.

We know that these activities impart values and skills that as important as academic achievement in preparing our young people in the areas of civic responsibility, community service, personal conduct, and service to the nation. Since we are not able to reach as many children as we should because of limited resources, I am urging philanthropic institutions and the private sector to partner with us in developing and sponsoring co-curricular activities in our public and private schools.

I also wish to remind parents, and indeed all adult members in society that they are equally responsible for the character formation of the youth. Accordingly, we should all play our part in ensuring that our children are properly socialized into a culture of integrity, self-discipline, hard work and service to others. With regard to the President's Award, it is gratifying to note that Kenya continues to receive worldwide recognition for the quality of work that the programme is doing and the impact it has had on our young people. As a result of the good work, Kenya has been nominated by the international community to host the 12th International Gold Event in October next year.

The forum will provide a unique opportunity for our young people to participate in discussions that will influence policy decisions that affect them. On its part, my Government, through the Ministries of Education and Youth Affairs, will support the event in order to ensure its success.

I am happy to note that Kenya has become a popular destination of choice for young people from other nations who come to complete their Gold Level requirements. In this regard, I am pleased to recognize 19 participants of the Duke of Edinburgh Young Canadians Challenge who have been in Kenya. I also thank them for putting up a library in Kirinyaga district as part of their community service. I note with gratitude that Kenya is providing leadership in training programmes for other African countries.

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to thank the Board of Trustees and the President's Award Secretariat for the immense contribution they are continuing to make in the lives of young people in this country and the region. I urge them to keep up the good work.

I also thank the heads of our institutions, teachers, parents, guardians and the business community for supporting this programme.

I encourage you all to continue supporting the programme and extend its outreach to those who are yet to feel its impact.

Thank you and God bless you all.