Fees headache and unclear term dates as schools reopen
Fees headache and unclear term dates as schools reopen
The second term classes begins with a packed, hurried, and unpredictable schedule following a two-week delay of the April break owing to severe weather.
Concerns include whether missed time can be made up for, a possible financial crisis and crunch, and what would happen to thousands of students in roughly 2,000 schools that might not be able to reopen because of the damaging effects of the severe rains that killed 257 people.
No information about students or instructors who may have died as a result of the severe rains has also been made public by the instructors Service Commission (TSC) or the Ministry of Education.
In a statement on Sunday, the Ministry of Interior stated that although some schools reopen, those severely impacted by the rain will stay closed.
“Some of the schools that have been adversely affected by the heavy rains and flooding will have their opening delayed as the National and county multiagency teams ensure that repairs are done to create a safe environment for students to resume learning,” the statement continues.
On how these pupils would be housed, guidelines have not yet been released by the Ministry of Education.
Furthermore, several stakeholders are already raising concerns about potential learning gaps brought on by the partial reopening.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general Collins Oyuu warned that students in areas where schools will remain closed will be disadvantaged.
“Take for example a candidate who remains home as others report back, they will be at a disadvantage when they take their KCSE examination because they will have lost some time unless measures are put to address this,” Oyuu said.
Not only that, but when educators and students return to class for the busiest term of the academic year, they must also deal with the difficult challenge of a compressed term.
This term isn’t the longest in the school calendar, but it usually is.
The term dates were originally scheduled by the Ministry of Education to run from April 29 to August 12 for a period of 14 weeks.
However, the term has been shortened from the previous 14 weeks to 12 weeks.
This is after the ministry indicated that they would not adjust the term dates set to run between April 29 and August 12.
With the time lost, it means the activities packed for the term will have to be covered in a shortened period.
Teachers are now under pressure to complete the syllabus in the shortened period.
However, some intern instructors have threatened to resign over allegations of unjust working conditions, which could prevent the reopening.
The interns want that their contracts be reviewed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), their employer, and that they be given new contracts with permanent and pensionable terms.
But the dispute’s future is currently being decided in court.
The Principal Secretary for Basic Education requested last week that educators come up with plans for making up for the lost time.
Willie Kuria, the chairman of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association, stated on Friday that each school will determine on its own how to make up the lost time.
Kuria stated that possibilities for recuperation will include remedial instruction as well as morning and evening classes.
There’s a new issue developing between government and school administrators because of rumors that no capitation funds will be delivered to schools when they return for the second term.
According to head teachers, operating the institutions without capitation will impede their ability to accept students.
This is in response to Machogu’s statement that educational institutions ought to use funds that are handed to them shortly before the first term ends.
