A blurry photo of young school children waiting outside the school gate at 5 am caused an uproar on social media for the better part of Wednesday evening.
The photo, that was posted by a Twitter user who tagged Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha, urged the government to communicate on the opening time for schools so as not to subject pupils to unnecessary suffering in the early morning cold.
The children were allegedly pupils of St. Paul Kabuku in Limuru. According to Citizen Digital, the watchman was supposedly asleep at the time the children were bracing the cold outside the gate.
Kenyans have since taken to the comment section to share their opinions, with a section of them slamming the government, while a larger group blamed parents for allowing their children to leave the house that early.
Official reporting time in schools has been an issue that sparkes emotions in the country, especially after a past video of kindergarteners being picked up from various neighborhoods in Nairobi and its environs as early, as 4 am, went viral.
Former Education CS, Amina Mohamed, outlined that the Basic Education Regulations of 2015 provides the period between 8:00 am to 3:30 pm to be for class hours where actual teaching and learning takes place.
She clarified that any arrangement where learners have classes before 8:00 am or after 3:30 pm was banned.
“Even as we maintain standards, we must not overstretch our children,” she stated, noting that learners in rural schools faced everyday danger by being forced to report to school earlier than usual.
Fredrick Horrace a netizen stated that, "I blame the parents. Why would I allow my kids out of My House at that time? Mine go to school at 7:40am and still perform better than the early birds."
Another, Peter Ng'ang'a, claimed that the children's parents want to make it to work early."
Winnie Wanjiru concurred with other social media users stating, "I agree. Where are the parents? And the teachers? This is just crazy."
