Education CS George Magoha has announced that the school calendar would be reviewed to accommodate learners set to resume learning in January after a long break occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking on Thursday, November 5, during an inspection tour at Maragua Ridge Secondary School in Murang’a County, CS Magoha reiterated President Uhuru Kenyatta's pronouncement that schools be fully reopened from January 3, 2021.
The Education CS stated that the examination timetable would be reviewed to accommodate the new arrangement and ensure that learners do not lose another academic year.
During President Uhuru Kenyatta’s address following the Sixth Extra-Ordinary Session of the National and County Government Coordination Summit, he directed that learning for Grade 4, Class 8, and Form 4 students to continue, while the rest of the students to reopen in January.
“I want to urge education stakeholders to continue preparing towards the reopening around January 3, 2021. The new timetable shall be worked on and we shall overcome this.
“As far as examinations are concerned, we are going ahead to prepare for exams and the exams shall be done. We shall tweak the timetable which we shall make public very soon,” he spoke.
This comes after the International Center for Policy and Conflict (ICPC) urged the government to make permanent changes to the school calendar.
The organisation recommended that the school terms should begin in September and end in June.
The NGO argued that the change is crucial in making adequate adjustments and filling the glaring gaps in learning.
ICPC insisted that the calendar change would help cut time wasted during the transition from secondary school to college as well as smoothen the transition from one system of education to the other.
Ndung’u Wainanina, the organisation’s Executive Director opined that the change would align school calendar years to the life cycle of governments, which constitutionally, begin in July, every five years.
