Will lost weeks in education be recovered?
Students from various schools at an Eldoret town street in Uasin Gishu County as they headed home on August 02, 2022, after schools were closed to enable the IEBC to prepare for the General Election.
What you need to know:
- It’s now clear that, already, two weeks of learning have been lost and we are yet to start another week without students in school.
- According to the education calendar, the country has two remaining candidate classes under the 8-4-4 system.
- Students being absent from school due to these unrelated circumstances will greatly affect their studies.
In early 2020, when the first case of Covid-19 was reported in the country, a lot of programmes and events were cancelled.
More so, learning in schools, colleges and universities were disrupted—ultimately for an entire year—ending up in the academic calendar being significantly changed by the Ministry of Education.
The ministry rearranged the calendar to have the terms shortened so that one now runs for even two months. That is set to end in December as the normal calendar resumes in January.
Recently, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha earned himself the wrath of most Kenyans after he abruptly ordered the untimely commencement of a one-week mid-term break in the second term to pave the way for the August 9 General Election.
Worse, following delays in the counting and tallying of votes, Prof Magoha has since extended the break by another week.
It’s now clear that, already, two weeks of learning have been lost and we are yet to start another week without students in school.
According to the education calendar, the country has two remaining candidate classes under the 8-4-4 system.
Students being absent from school due to these unrelated circumstances will greatly affect their studies.
My plea to parents is to help their children to study at home so that they will not be greatly affected by the untimely and unforeseen holidays. Home tutors should come in handy.
Recovering the lost learning time will not be possible since the academic terms are shorter than usual and the teachers, though pushing hard, might not complete the syllabus.
The school calendar is too tight, with events such as drama and music festivals and sports activities, which eat into the academic time.
Recovering the lost time is not possible. Students should use the holiday well by doing personal studies. They must not waste time. Those with smartphones should avoid visiting social media platforms as that will prove detrimental to their studies.
Morgan Wanyonyi, Migori
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Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has extended the midterm break, pushing the school reopening date, previously announced as today, to Thursday due to delays in the ongoing tallying of votes following the General Election.
However, many parents were ready to take their children back to school today. They are worried that the school calendar might be affected like in the period of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Teachers have also requested for more time to complete the syllabus as they are in a rush to prepare the students sitting the national exams at the end of the year.
Claire Nyambura, Murang’a
