By Charles Okoth
As the next government comes into office, hopefully as soon as possible, one in-tray that must be overly full is that of the Cabinet Secretary (CS), Education.
Actually, if these jobs were to be applied for, only the daring ones would go for this particular ministry. It is not politics to apply for a job where you know you will have to hit the ground sprinting at a break-neck speed.
A great deal will be demanded from that CS. And the amount of interest will be overwhelming. What is more, the number of the so-called ‘stakeholders’ will be enormous; for almost every single person is, in one way or the other, interested in matters education.
For one, an immediate solution will have to be sought for the plight of the candidate classes for this year.
There is some determined effort by the powers that be at Jogoo House ‘B’ to hurry things in such a way that the school calendar goes back to what it used to be before Covid-19. The idea is that come next year, the school term one would start in January, as has always been the case. For that to happen, everybody concerned must pull up their socks, and go out of their way. Apparently, restoration of the country’s academic calendar seems to be so important that no holds should be barred when it comes to the singularly important issue.
The main victims of this concerted effort are the poor teachers, who have to ensure they cover the material they have been given for each class; and the learners. Thus, the work for three months must now be covered in two months, somehow. The teachers must prepare and teach, and the learners must absorb the material, and do requisite assignments, at an accelerated rate.
I have made enquiries about how this is being done, and I can report that matters ‘kwa ground ni kubaya’.
In several schools I know, children wake up at four in the morning. Classes start at five. Break time has been shortened; hardly enough for toilet. Even lunch break: take your time eating and you will find the class almost over. Games time is a luxury very few schools can afford.
And alas! It has been a unique year: elections.
The poor boys and girls opened school for term one in May this year, most of them still carrying huge burdens of the form three/class seven work they had not covered. Before they knew what was happening, they were sent home for term one half-term holiday. Then before they could settle in class, the term was over!
From my research, some high schools had not started form four work, yet they were headed for term two of form four.
They went back for term two, which was promptly interrupted by the half-term holiday that was necessitated by the elections. This holiday was extended many times by the CS, Professor Magoha. It had to be done as elections are such an important item on our national calendar. So you cannot fault the good urologist.
And then politics. One must not assume that these young boys and girls were in no way affected by political temperatures in the country, or that they were not involved at all. What has been going on this year was not done behind an iron curtain; assuming that learners were not in any way involved or affected would be delusional. At times, even the teachers, including principals and head teachers, were in the thick of it.
Why, against all sense, were many teachers picked by IEBC to officiate in the process?
Someone may also take on me when I say that most of these political office candidates would give money after their campaign speeches. On the queue would be a number of students, many of whom are bona fide voters.
One may say teachers were encouraged to do something extra to make up for lost Covid-19 time, but the reality is that the teachers could only do so much, and nothing more. The poor students can also absorb so much. What I know, and let the new CS pray this does not happen, is that if a parent/learner went to court to pray that the court postpones the exam to March/April, it would be a case won before it even starts. Magistrates are also parents.
But it need not go that far; it would be a sheer waste of public time. The CS should simply see that the rush to normalize the school calendar is unwarranted. After all, what is the rationale of having term one start in January? In other countries, it starts in April, or September.
