As schools resumed for the second term of the 2022 academic year, students crowded shops and bus stops all across the nation on Tuesday. The forthcoming general elections bring another obstacle to the academic schedule. parents, teachers, and students tend to face a hard time adjusting to the current changes brought about by the consequences of the Covid 19 pandemic and the high cost of living.
In order to accommodate the election season, the second term is only supposed to last ten weeks, having students attending class for only nine weeks and then taking a week off for the election. The limited time students are attending classes has become a challenge thus leading to serious discussion across the nation.
Hellen Muthoni a parent from Nakuru country criticizes the little time students will be attending the classes. “this a tough year for students and teachers, looking at how politics are going on in the country, learners might lose more classes if the presidential election goes sour thus leading to a repeat of elections” she noted out. Bahati girl’s school principal in Nakuru County says that the learners will not be able to participate in a lot of extracurricular activities due to limited time.
“Across the years of the second term is known for extracurricular activities such as drama and ball games. due to covid 19, the government burned public gatherings which affects the competition taking place. learners thus have no time to relax and practice their talents” she says. In order to make up for the time lost due to the pandemic, the government fixed four terms in the academic year 2021 and 2022, which has raised concerns among parents about the pressure to pay school fees.
Elizabeth a parent expresses her concern “With the rising rate of inflation and expense of living, it is becoming difficult for me to give the kids the quality of education they have ever since gotten and decides on shifting them from boarding school to a day school. The cost of foods such as maize, wheat, and beans has increased across the nation, the current price for most commodities tends to be more than double the price in the last 7 months.
According to Dr. Julius Jwan Principal Secretary for Basic Education, the government is developing a strategy to allow schools to purchase food directly from the National Cereals and Produce Board rather than the supermarket in response to a request by the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association.
