A feature done by VOA on May 6, 2020, to highlight Owino’s initiative was uploaded by the UN’s website highlighting initiatives amined at helping over 127 million students in Africa stuck at home over the Covid-19 pandemic.
The feature counted Babu as one of the people who had stood up to be counted for his dedication to change student’s lives, a matter that babu stated was motivated by the fact that students’ idleness would breed trouble.
“I can see that the education process has come to a halt following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, despite the fact that some students are set to sit their exams.
“If we leave these students to be idle, they will start engaging in unsavory deeds in line with the Bible’s wise words that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop,” Babu Owino told VOA.
Babu Owino, who scored an A grade in his KCSE exams, told the broadcaster that the reason for his decision was due to the knowledge he had in sciences which he thought would be wise to share with the students.
He further added that he would be holding classes through his social media platforms every week to ensure that the students managed to adequately prepare for the oncoming KCSE exams.
The legislator also asked the government to allow him time on several television channels to ensure that the content he delivers got to more students across the country.
“They [the government] can give me only one hour on a TV station. Given such a platform, I will handle some subjects and also invite other teachers to take on subjects that they can,” Owino stated.
On Friday, May 1, the MP took to Facebook where he taught Mathematics to Form Four students for about one and a half hours.
When he was done with the lesson, he promised to teach mathematics topicwise and added that he would set time for chemistry as well in the following week, a matter that he followed through with lessons on May 8.
It has, however, not been smooth sailing for the vocal MP as the government directed that it was against the law for anyone not registered as a teacher with the Teacher with the Teachers Service Commision (TSC) or whose content is not approved by the Kenya Insitute of Curricuum Development (KICD) to teach the students.
The vocal legislator, however, refused to pay attention to the government’s announcement and vowed to carry on with the lessons as he had started.
Winnie Odinga posing for a photo in March 2019
His defiance also sparked action from Winnie Odinga, the daughter to ODM Party leader Raila Odinga who vowed to start English and History lessons to students.
In a statement on her social media pages, she faulted the government’s directive that only vetted and approved personnel should deliver online lessons and promised to start some of her own.
