Parents Brace For Another Financial Burden As Schools Break For Elections.
As schools close this week in preparation for the August 9 election, parents are bracing for yet another financial burden.
According to Education CS George Magoha, schools will be closed on August 6 to prepare for the upcoming General Election on Tuesday, August 9.
Due to the many interruptions in the school calendar, parents say it is becoming an expensive affair.
It’s only been a month since schools reopened for the second term.
Furthermore, some parents expressed concerns about their children’s safety as they return home during the heated political campaigns.
According to Nicholas Maiyo, chairman of the National Parents Association, when schools reopen after the elections, parents will face another burden of school fees.
Maiyo urged school principals to adhere to the Ministry of Education’s fee guidelines.
‘‘The challenge is that principals will demand school fees to be paid immediately when schools re-open. You will see students sent back home for fees. Most of the policies of the Ministry of Education are put on paper and left to gather dust without implementation,’’ Maiyo said.
Students are expected to take a midterm break early to coincide with the elections.
After inspecting the ongoing construction of CBC classrooms at the Alliance Girls on Sunday, the Education Ministry boss stated that the schools will re-open as soon as the election results are announced.
“We are breaking again on the 6th of the month and we will not open again untill the 15th,” CS Magoha said.
Simultaneously, CS Magoha stated that if elections are held again during his tenure, consultations will be held to determine whether students will take their exams.
“"We may have to sit down as stakeholders and see whether it will be fair to examine the children if they will have lost a considerable amount of time, I pray that that does not happen, these children have suffered enough,” Magoha said.
“We do not want politics in schools because the students have a very short term and it is only fair that they are left alone,” Magoha added.
“There should be no political activities, in fact, If I see any political van here, I will tell police to tow them ….. children first,,”
More than 23,000 public schools have been designated as polling places.
Given that a number of schools will be used as polling stations and tallying centers during the elections, Magoha explained, it has become necessary to make minor adjustments to Second Term dates to free up the institutions for use.
Schools will close a few days before elections, according to Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association Association chairman Kahi Indimuli and Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association (Kepsha) Johnson Nzioka, to allow for the preparation of polling stations.
‘‘The political temperatures could send the fear of unrest leading to panic closure of some institutions. This is a scenario all education stakeholders need to sit and review the calendar to accommodate for the election period,” Indimuli said.
Indimuli stated that if the election is re-run, it will have an impact on the schools.
If the election drags on past the one-week break, the curriculum will be disrupted. Indimuli explained that it will compel the ministry to keep students in school for an extended period of time, which is not recommended.
‘‘We have a short period to prepare the candidates, so shutting schools for more than a week will have an effect on their preparation,” he added.
Maiyo, for his part, stated that extending the school holidays beyond a week would interfere with the candidate’s preparation for the national exams.
The KCPE exam will be held between November 28 and December 1, while the KCSE exam will be held between December 1 and December 23.
Magoha stated that the calendar needed to be adjusted so that students take their half-term break before the election date, allowing the institutions to be used as polling places.
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He explained that in the 2017 repeat presidential election on October 26, all schools were closed to allow the institutions to be used as polling places on election day.
“During the repeat presidential election, the Ministry made a slight adjustment to the school calendar to accommodate the exercise.
“It will be the same case this year since the elections will be held in the middle of the term so there is no cause for alarm,” he said.
Indimuli stated that by the end of 2022, all time lost during the school closure will have been recovered, and the academic calendar will have returned to normal by January 2023.
Parents Brace For Another Financial Burden As Schools Break For Elections