A MUST READ FOR EACH HIGHSKULAR..... As schools reopen Monday for the third term, students may soon have to say goodbye to the system they have known all their life. The government has proposed changes that would drastically alter the school calendar and learning hours. The provisions are contained in the draft Basic Education Act Regulations, 2014, which is meant to operationalise the Basic Education Act 2013. The government, through the Ministry of Education, is proposing that the three school terms run for 13 weeks each. The document proposes that the first term run from September to November to coincide with the start of government’s financial year. Currently, the first term runs from January to March. “The first term of learning should be from first Monday of September to last Friday of November bringing to 13 weeks of learning. The first term vacation shall be for three weeks in December,” says the document. If the proposals become law, then the second term would run from the first Monday of January to the last Friday of March with a three-week rest period in April. COMMUNITY OUTREACH Learners would then return for the final term from the first Monday of May to the last Friday of July with a five-week break in August. “Every learner shall participate in community outreach for one week during school vacations under the supervision of the respective Board of Management in collaboration with Parents Teachers Association.” “The community outreach programmes shall include, but are not limited to, environmental clean-up and charity walks. The regulation also seeks to ban any school, public or private, from altering the calendar. Official hours have also been set such that official class hours will be from 8.00 am to 3.30 pm while students will afterwards participate in sports and clubs up to 4.45 pm. In boarding schools, learners will be required to go to sleep at 9.30 p.m. and wake up at 6 a.m. as opposed to the current trend where some students wake up as early as 4 a.m. to prepare for the day and retire after 10 p.m. Students will also be allowed to choose their leaders through an electoral process. The Kenya National Union of Teachers says although the proposals are good, there are some contentious issues that must be addressed before the document is presented to the Attorney-General’s office. “By and large, the term dates is not a problem to us. Most of the clauses in the document are very progressive, this (new calendar) is for the convenience of the government and budgetary circles,” said Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion. But even as the government mulls over the changes, uncertainty looms after teachers issued 21-day strike notice last week. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has called for dialogue with Knut to discuss their new salary demands and forestall the strike which the union accepted. But Mr Sossion has demanded official communication with dates and timelines of the negotiations, which is yet to happen. The teachers’ union had 37 items that they want government to address among them, higher responsibility, commuter and housing allowances. It has also introduced the township allowance to cushion teachers working in some urban areas. If the government and the teachers’ union do not resolve the issue, the learners, especially Standard Eight and Form Four candidates, are likely to be affected as they prepare for their final examinations.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 05:13:10 +0000
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