This archive report was first published on 6 May 2020.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, the education sector is facing an uncertain future. However, with the government providing a roadmap for post-pandemic recovery, there is still time to recover and get back on course.
Originally, the second term was set to commence this week, but it has been pushed to June. This target date would only be achievable if the pandemic is controlled, which seems unlikely given the rising infections, which have reached 582 as of Wednesday.
Despite the challenges, learners, teachers, and parents should not panic. The government should revise the calendar to extend the term dates further, allowing learners to cover the syllabus without undue stress.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has proposed extending the second term by cutting down on midterm and August holidays. Additionally, the school day will be extended, meaning learners will stay longer in class to cover the syllabus. This is a good starting point, but we propose that the ministry consider postponing the national examinations by a few weeks.
Specifically, Standard Eight exams, scheduled for late October, should be pushed to mid-November. Similarly, Form Four exams should commence in mid-November and run till mid-December. This will give learners, particularly candidates, more time to prepare adequately for the exams.
The COVID-19 experience has been traumatic for everyone, but especially for learners who have been forced to stay at home with no chance to play and do anything to avoid infection. It will take them time to recover when schools reopen, and instead of teaching for long hours a day, which can lead to mental saturation, the term dates should be extended up to December.
However, an equally vexed question is what learners are doing at home. While the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) is conducting online lessons, these are not accessible to all learners due to practical and logistical limitations. Not every household has the necessary infrastructure, and even where it is available, learners require supervision, which parents are not capable of.
Ultimately, the learners will have to pick up from where they left in mid-March, when schools were closed over the coronavirus, and covering the remainder of the syllabus will require time, hence the need to extend third term and push the exams to December.
