The Dilemma of Parent-Funded ‘Remedial Lessons’
Numerous public and private institutions across the nation begin their school days well before 7 a.m. and end after 5 p.m.
In addition, students in upper primary school, secondary school, and the junior secondary school, are asked to attend school on Saturdays.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu warned schools to stop extending learning hours beyond the Basic Education Act, which states all-day public and private schools should operate between 8am to 3.30pm and learners should report earlier than 7.15am.
This is a reminder of the long-standing debate on the issue, as it has been a topic of debate for years.
The introduction of the 8-4-4 system in Kenya in 1985 led to a rush to complete syllabi in as short a time as possible.
However, this argument failed to consider the structural changes that made it reasonable to take a span of only four years compared to the A’level system.
Learning time extension was fully justified by the fierce competition for top positions in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, which supplanted the Kenya Certificate of Education and the Kenya Advanced Secondary Education.
This competition for top spots, which extended to primary schools, was fueled by the ranking of schools in national examinations, a process that created a group of highly coveted public and private schools.
Private schools capitalized on the ranking to create successful brands that allowed them to not only expand but also significantly increase tuition.
These institutions were registered under various names, but were managed by the proprietors of the prestigious institutions.
In the meantime, students would be subjected to arduous study regimens that reduced them to mindless parrots with little or no intellectual curiosity.
This allowed schools to engage in unethical practices, such as requiring weak or average students to repeat grades so as not to dilute mean scores and establishing auxiliary schools where weak students were registered to take national examinations.
The government banned ranking in 2014, but the extra learning hours were not realized due to parents paying for them, which were referred to as “remedial lessons.”
The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 forced school closures, and many schools imposed even longer learning hours to compensate.
In essence, schools have normalized and tolerated extended learning hours.
Teachers benefit from them, and it would not be in their best interest to eliminate them, even though they have been criticized for removing the enjoyment from learning, causing mental exhaustion and disengagement, and allowing students to sleepwalk through the education system with minimal gains.
Schools in developed nations such as Finland, Australia, Italy, China, and the United States begin between 8.30 and 9 am and end at 3.30 pm.
Even in Kenya, private schools such as Samaj in Lang’ata, Nairobi, begin their day at 9 a.m. and conclude it at 3.30 p.m., even for A-level students in the International General Certificate of Secondary Education system.
The Dilemma of Parent-Funded ‘Remedial Lessons’