HABARI NEWS: JUNE 2017
The Head teacher and teachers have given a very encouraging report on school in the month of June. Things have been going on reasonably well as both students and staff continue with their duties in focusing on the education of the students; teachers, teaching and involving students in other activities besides class work and students taking their role seriously. This helps the teachers to position the students in their right place and to know those who may need more help in various activities. There are clear indications that new students are used to the school environment and there are less cases of common ailments that usually affect new students because of the climate. The non-teaching staff also play their roles as expected of them for success of each child.
VISITING DAY:
This day is usually announced when students go for holidays so that the parents may know when they can come for a visit because it only happens once in a trimester. This time the visiting day was on Saturday June 24. Saturday allows parents who are working and who can only come on such a day to come. The weather was very good for transportation as most of the parents use public means and some may come from as far as over 80 miles (120km).
Apart from visiting the children the parents meet with the teachers who are ready to discuss with them their children’s progress both in academics referring to internal exams and school life in general. Some parents may want or wanted to meet with the Head teacher for some reason and these also get the opportunity on this day.
Unlike the visiting day of the first trimester when some parents of children who were enrolled in January come to school for the first time, visiting in the second semester is more relaxed, everyone know what to expect. The use of cell phones allows parents to be informed on what their child needs for provisions for the rest of the trimester.
The Head teacher informed me that parents’ visiting day was very successful and that teachers and students were happy to welcome many parents. Practically all the students were visited.
NEW CURRICULUM IN KENYA
A few times in the past I have mentioned in my blog letters that Kenyan government has been working on changing what is known as 8-4-4 (eight years of elementary school, four of high school and four of university) system of education which has been in operation for the last 31 years and its replacement with a 2:6:6:3 system. With the new system, the Government proposes that learners should spend two years in nursery, six years in primary, another six years at secondary (high school), and at least three years at the university.
The proposal for this change is that pre-primary and lower primary education should form the first tier of education called ‘early years education’ and the focus will be on fundamental skills.
Primary education will be divided into the lower and upper levels while secondary learning will be split into the junior and senior grades.
TESTING THE NEW EDUCATION CURRICULUM: Before the month of May 2017 four hundred and seventy (470) primary schools had been selected across the country for pilot project testing the new education curriculum to start on May 29, 2017. A total of 10 schools – five pre-primaries and another five primary schools – have been selected in every county. In each county, the schools were selected based on five criteria – rural public, rural private, urban private, urban public and special needs schools. It is said that the findings of the pilot would inform the next stage of the process.
No doubt such a strategy or any change is expected to give schooling a new concern in Kenya. Although the Government has stated through the education cabinet secretary that the new curriculum will not be too expensive to implement, some professionals say that could only be true at the lower grades of the new education system. Currently schools have limited facilities to offer most of the suggested courses in senior school, some of the new courses that in the past had never been offered in the current secondary schooling segment.
I would like to let all Friends and well-wishers of Father Ntaiyia School know that we are following the situation as much as we can. Father Ntaiyia School is not alone on these changes because there are other schools that are private and are also marking time on these changes. I will inform and discuss with Friends of Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School Charity BOD so that we may all be aware that funds will be needed to implement these changes for they cannot be without financial implication that any change may bring to our School. I have also developed a few questions that help our teachers to find out what is going on and the consequence involved.
DROUGHT IN KENYA: While drought is not over in some part of Kenya, recovery will still take longer and this keeps the prices of many things up. As much as the prices are high we are also experiencing unavailability of the staple foodstuff that we usually buy in bulk. Our employees like any other persons are undergoing the same both at the place of work and back at their families.
ELECTION YEAR IN KENYA: Kenyans go to the polls next month in national elections. The vote comes a decade after the worst electoral clashes in Kenyan history when more than one thousand people were killed in politically motivated ethnic violence. Since then every national election brings fear that it could happen again. This time the European Union has warned against possible violence in the forthcoming elections, while an advocacy group said it had documented cases of intimidation and threats.
Schools will be on August break that begins a few days before the polls day. It is our hope and prayer that it will all be peaceful so that families may have their children back to school in time.
My people will always be grateful for the support of many Friends of Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School.
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Fr. Symon Peter Ntaiyia