Kenyans have in recent times experienced rampant school fires that have destroyed property. The parents have had to pay for these damages. Perhaps some Ministry of Education officials have embarked on investigations of what causes the learners to destroy their property.
The Education Cabinet secretary has been quoted as wanting to re-introduce caning to curb this vice. He could not have gone more off-target. Indeed we all know that violence begets violence.
Where did the school counsellors go? We cannot run our schools like army training. As a former school principal, I believe that running schools like a functional family can elicit understanding, care and responsibility from everyone in the family.
The first cause, in my view, of unresolved anger of the learners, is the extra unreceipted fees dubbed 'extra mile' or 'fast-tracking'. This extra money, to say the least, is juicy for the teachers because the taxman cannot see it. The learners know that the ministry has declared this fee illegal yet their principals still demand it without any action from ministry officials. Some of them (ministry officials) are parents in those schools.
There is a false belief that this extra fee helps to improve the quality of national examination results as the teachers will go an “extra mile” to ensure syllabi are not only covered but that the learners are better prepared for the tests. It is this misplaced belief that causes learners to “explode” lies.
First, to justify the extra mile, the teachers will have to create the extra time to teach the learners. These are found in:
Reducing or even doing away with physical education lessons and evening games/clubs time. Some schools have actually increased class time to 5pm. The Legal Notice No 39 of 2015 clearly states that class hours are from 8am. to 3.30pm and that co-curricular activities run from 3.30 pm to 5pm.
Denying learners some sleep. The legal notice cited above states that learners sleep time is from 9.30pm to 6am. Many schools ask the learners to be awake by 4am and go to class where teachers will be available to teach them.
Interfering with learners preparations (preps). These are times the learners will try to revise what was learnt that day and prepare for the next tuition. But the teachers take this time to complete the syllabus/revise certain topics.
Asking day scholars to come to school for learning on Saturdays.
Secondly, at face value these appear genuine interventions. A parent will justifiably ask, “Why should I pay extra money if there is no concrete extra time that my child will be taught?” Frankly, the teachers need also time to prepare for the lessons to teach during the official teaching time, which this extra mile robs them.
However, the love of the untaxed money makes them go ahead anyway oblivious of the fact that they will underperform during the official teaching time.
On the flip side, the learner has no rest time, no sufficient time to revise what has been learnt and no physical activity and the pressure mounts to complete subject syllabi which were not well understood in the first place, leading to poor results in national examinations.
And I believe the learners are not accorded the opportunity to air their views and feelings. A tiny misunderstanding between students and teachers can easily lead to an explosion. The heavy fines on the parents to address the damages caused does not make things better. Let us change tack.
What would be wrong if the Ministry of Education bans extra teaching as well as Saturday teaching for day scholars and ask teachers to use the official teaching time well? There would be no need for extra mile fee and the learners would learn as per Education Policy.
The second cause, in my view, that irritates learners is the frequent examinations/tests and less teaching that they have to wade through. Any educationist knows that it is easier to test than to teach. Many times the next test comes before discussing conclusively the previous one with the class. Consequently, the students continue to underperform.
Also, almost all schools carry out 'term opening exams' most likely to ensure the students report to school on time. This, in my view, is a misuse of examinations, which are ostensibly undertaken after one has been taught. Were the students not relaxing during the holidays? Isn’t it irritating for a student to be told that his/her termly mean mark will include performance at term opening exams?
Educationist
