Referendum disrupts school calendar

Kenyan public schools to close 3 days earlier

The referendum on the proposed new constitution has disrupted the school learning calendar with the closing dates being pushed forward by three days.

Speaking at the close of the 35th Kenya Secondary Schools Head Teachers Association (KESSHA) conference in Mombasa, Education Minister Prof Sam Ongeri announced that public schools will break off for the August holiday on August 3 instead of 6.

Ongeri said the early closure of schools was meant to allow for smooth voting on the proposed constitution.

The Minister revealed that the government has set aside Ksh1.3 billion for the purchase of 300 computers for each constituency to facilitate e-learning in secondary public schools.

He said Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was an integral part in the realisation of the country's economic blueprint, Vision 2030 which aims at transforming the country into a medium industrialised economy by the year 2030.

Ongeri said in order to achieve the dream of making secondary school learners and even adults ICT literate, school managers should encourage more teachers and students to utilise the computers and other ICT infrastructure in the country to improve their technological skills.

The minister pledged to twork with the treasury in order to streamline the disbursement of free primary education and free secondary tuition funds whose release to institutions has been a bone of contention between the government and the school managers.

Prof.Ongeri also disclosed that the ministry has agreed in principle to a request from KESSHA that funds for the recruitment of intern teachers be channelled through Boards of Governors and school management committees.

This the minister said would provide a stop gap measure to the current acute shortage of teachers in schools which currently stands at 66,000 adding that appropriate guidelines on the implementation of the proposal would be developed.

Ongeri said due to concerns over poor performance by students in mathematics and sciences in secondary schools, the ministry has constituted a committee headed by education secretary Prof. George Godia to investigate the causes for poor grades in the key subjects and present their findings to him in August this year.

The Education minister said the national assessment centre for learning achievements based at the Kenya National examination Council which monitors the learning process in primary schools has had its mandate extended to the secondary school level to monitor learning in post primary institutions.

To give quality instruction to Kenyan learners, Ongeri said the ministry of education will periodically review the national educational curriculum in order to keep it in line with current trend.

These programmes the minister said would be tied to coordinated and continuous capacity building for school managers by the Kenya Institute of Special Education and the Kenya Institute of Education.

The Minister at the same time urged the head teachers to put in place measures to check incidents of cheating in examinations and rein in teachers condoning the vice.

At the same time Ongeri called for the inclusion of guidance and counseling courses in the school syllabuses.

This is aimed at helping students deal with the challenges of the HIV AIDS pandemic which he the minister says is a major problem facing the education sector coupled with the high number of teenage pregnancies.