The recent pronouncement by Education Cabinet Secretary banning morning and evening school preps has elicited mixed reactions from the public and stake holders in the education sector in general. For many generations that underwent the system bracing early cold morning and late nights in class for prep time, there is a general consensus that there was some benefit to the system as it gave time to complete assignments but also the same preps took a toll on the student with mental fatigue some taking it as torture having to stay for over four hours in class after having taken which led most to wallow to sleep on their desks doing nothing productive in this period.
Kenya seems to have borrowed a leaf from Rwanda another nation that has recently made a similar announcement through its ministry of education. From a moderation perspective, it is important to underscore the fact that instead of entirely banning the preps perhaps the period or time should have been minimized so that the students still get the benefit of organizing time to conduct and finish up on assignments during preps.
The matter of rest is critical and perhaps the Cabinet Secretary has facts from research to back up the decision. For students, it might be a temporary sigh of relief but consequentially this might affect their performance in the short term for the better or for worse depending on how they choose to re-organize their time and studies from these new changes. For the teachers, this might deny them the extended period of administering their teaching as some schools did allow make up class sessions over the prep time to cover up for lost time or to help the students study ahead. All said, it’s important for the students and teachers to reorganize and readjust their time to cater to the new changes and aid to realize more learning productivity in our Kenyan schools.
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