Schools revise timetables, limit games hours to recover lost time

"We have to make up for the time we have lost. We have had to alter our timetables to suit our goals for this term in regard to syllabus," Ms Odhiambo said.

She said part of their plans to recover the lost time includes adjusting academic timetable to accommodate more lessons.

"Recovering more than 70 academic hours is not a joke, especially for teachers who are keen on effective content delivery. However, we are optimistic we will deliver," the principal said.

At Nyambaria School, teachers are on an overdrive in an effort to ensure contact hours with learners are recovered by slightly adjusting the timetable.

Chief principal Charles Orina said while there could be deliberate measures to recover the hours that were lost, the institution was keen not to overwork learners.

"We are aware that students, too, may be overworked but it is a matter of balancing their timetables so that they are not overstretched," Orina said.

At St Paul's Gekano Boys in Manga Ward of Nyamira County, the administration has had to reduce games time from the usual two hours to just an hour so as to allow for more contact hours.

The school's deputy principal Evans Mogere said students had been prepared and agreed on working on a revised timetable that will have them participate more in academics than in other school activities.

Among other methods the school is using to recover the lost hours is condensing related topics and harmonising content.

"We will do anything doable to make sure that learners don't miss out on anything because we have very few days to do what we ought to do. The good thing is that we have the blessing of parents and learners," Mr Mogere said.

However, even as the various school managements embarked on contingency plans to round up their work within the little available time, payment of school fees is a major concern among school heads, something they say will hinder their plans.

"We have a serious problem with payment of fees. We have tried our best to engage parents but it seems most of them have financial burdens leading to accumulated arrears. The school is experiencing increased burdens of unpaid fees that translate into compromised service delivery," Ms Odhiambo, Sironga Girls principal, said.

At St Kizito Nyansiongo Boys, the principal Ezekiel Okeyo, said the administration had allowed parents with convertible resources to pay fees in kind to the school.

"We have an agreement with some parents to supply us with goods that can be equated to money which then can be counted as school fees. That has made it easy for learners to remain in school for studies and not go home for fees," Okeyo said.

Nyamira County Director of Education Boniface Ouko said school heads were free to devise workable methods of ensuring the syllabus is well covered.

"What we are discouraging is a situation where schools ask for more money from parents to do extra work. It is prudent of school heads to ensure learners do not miss out on learning," Ouko said.

Meanwhile, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha yesterday said that all national examinations would be conducted as planned despite political uncertainty in the country.

He said there would be no extension of the school calendar, saying the government was determined to return normalcy in the education sector in January next year.

"It would be unfortunate to hand over the government when we have not streamlined the school calendar," said Prof Magoha.

On selection of schools, Prof Magoha said children who will go to junior secondary school should select institutions that are near their homes. He said parents should stop the mentality that they must take their children to national schools.

"After Grade Nine, parents can start looking for national schools far away from their homes," he said. For now, children should be admitted to Grade Seven near their homes."

He said he has ensured the Competency-Based Curriculum was a success. Prof Magoha spoke when he toured schools at the Coast where he warned students against burning schools.