by jacko kimz
Education minister Mutula Kilonzo is sure to provoke a storm. Beyond
the short-skirts-for-schoolgirls brouhaha, Mr Kilonzo has now raised an
important policy issue that must be addressed for the sake of our
children.
The minister’s directive banning holiday classes has
been opposed by the Kenya National Union of Teachers and generally
defied or ignored by both public and private schools.
The show of
defiance illustrates just how officialdom has become impotent in the
brave new dispensation, yet he raised an issue that must be taken up at
official government policy level rather than be seen as just the
roadside policy declarations of an individual minister.
Many, many
years ago, when schoolchildren were being overworked with the new 8-4-4
system, then Vice-President Mwai Kibaki broke ranks with the official
line and openly declared support for a more relaxed curriculum.
I still recall the memorable words he issued to the effect that children must be allowed to be children.
That remains true today as it was all those years ago. Children must have time for play, leisure, and relaxation.
That
is a fact widely acknowledged, but even in the Kibaki era, we have seen
only half-hearted efforts to reform the education system.
It is
still focused inordinately on information overload and the mad and
ruinous competition to pass examinations and place your school atop the
primary or secondary league tables.
I must declare that I have a
personal interest in this matter because I have a Standard Eight child
who is today constrained to break her holidays and go back to class.
I
have attended meetings at the school where the issue of children being
overburdened has come up, and usually left with the impression that both
parents and teachers have forgotten the needs of the little ones.
In many places, school administrators are obsessed with securing good results for the prestige of the institutions.
The parents, in turn, want to realise their own dreams , and satisfy their own egos in examination success for their young ones.
The
end result is maddening workload that beats slavery. Little children
are being forced to start classes at 6.30 in the morning and study
continuously up to 6pm, with only an hour’s break for lunch. They will
go to school also on Saturdays.
And even after leaving class so
late every day, and making an allowance for an hour or more to reach
home, they will still have mountains of homework to get through.
Pre-teen children are being forced to stay up to 10 or 11pm every night, buried in schoolbooks.
That
is criminal. As a journalist I work long and unconventional hours,
which often are way above those recommended by the Ministry of Labour
and our own human resource — formerly “personnel” — managers.
But I am an adult, and it cannot be right that little children are being condemned to put in such crazy hours.
Not
too long ago, during a visit to our alma mater, Lenana School, many of
us were shocked to learn that many of the intensive sporting and other
extra-curricular clubs and activities had been abandoned.
The explanation from staff was lack of time because of the need for evening and Saturday classes.
The
irony was that when Lenana placed such a high premium on compulsory
sports and other activities outside the classroom, it ranked high in
examination rankings, often in the top five nationally.
Now all
the time is spent in the classroom, and the academic performance has
plummeted to push the once prestigious school way outside the premier
league.
The excuse offered by teachers, and parents, for the
workload is the need to complete the syllabus. What seems beyond their
comprehension is that academic excellence is achieved through quality.
Not quantity.
You can only hammer so much information into a tired
brain. If completing the syllabus is too taxing, then Mr Kilonzo must
move with speed to have it reviewed.
We all want our young ones
to get quality education, but we do not want to create mindless
automatons drilled just to pass examinations. Neither must we condemn
them to premature stress, burnout, and worse.
Arsenal fans were rather expecting an announcement of the loan signing of Nuri Sahin today. He’s 
