HABARI NEWS: JULY 2017
SCHOOL VISITORS: The month of July started with unexpected excitement in Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School as Mr. Adam E. Jablonski and his family from USA visited the School. Adam had invited Father Ntaiyia for lunch about two weeks before leaving for Kenya. He and his friends have a mission in Kenya and are working among my people the Maasai community and a tribe called Luo community promoting education and health services. I got to know Adam through one of my parishioners and we have met about three time here in Ontario / Webster NY. The school community was happy to see him and his family and to know that we know each other. The school appreciated and thank them for the gifts they brought for students. Adam and family, you are always welcome to Father Ntaiyia School.
END OF SECOND TRIMESTER
2017 July is the last month of the second trimester in the Kenya school calendar. Teachers and students work towards their end of trimester exams that attest their three months academic work to be carried in report form to parents among other reports in the report form. Teachers have reported that the trimester went on well in a much better way because the new students and teachers are used to the environment of Father Ntaiyia School. The students left for their August break on July 28.
The opening and closing term dates of school trimesters in Kenya are directed by the Ministry or Department of Education as they apply to the Basic institutions pursuing National Curriculum in preparation for National Exams. The first and second terms (trimester) for pre-primary and primary schools runs for 14 weeks each, while third term lasts 9 weeks to allow for the national examinations both for Elementary and High Schools all over the Country.
Closing the schools at the end of July, however, was very much anticipated because the 2017 general elections will be held during schools’ holidays as many polling centers are in public schools. It is our hope and prayer that the elections will be safe and that our school community will have restful and peaceful breaks at home.
THE NEW CURRICULUM IN KENYA
There are questions that arise as I read more on the literature being released by the Ministry of Education on the new curriculum in Kenya.
First, currently going by the old system we have 8 classrooms that are supposed to cater for grades1 through 8. In the new system, we are well placed for primary (elementary) education but since we cannot bring below third grader children to a boarding school, we have been planning to start recruiting from 4th graders and making double classes (in each grade) to make use of our facilities.
Second, what will be required of teachers’ skills for the new system – will they need more training, what about textbooks and other learning facilities that would be required by students such as the proposed electronics?
Third, in the old system transition of students from primary school to high school went by merits of passing the public examination. Children could move from any Elementary School to a High School of their choice or to private High Schools. In the new system, all children will be expected to continue with education past primary. It is not clear how children will be assimilated into high schools especially given that there are more primary schools than high schools.
Fourth, parents chose to take their children to private school and pay school fees despite free education in public schools. This is because they believed there will be better learning in private schools and a chance that their child would pass the public examination and go to High School. In the new system, there will be no factor of public examinations. Might this make many parents feel no need to take their child to a school where they must pay school fees? On the other hand, it is inevitable that many schools and especially public schools not be quickly equipped with necessities for the new curriculum and parents who will notice this, will see the need to have their children join a private school that will be equipped? We must also admit that there are many challenges facing implementation of computer education in Kenya and it is not easy to visualize how they will be uniformly addressed.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
During the deliberations of BOD meeting of July 17, 2017, after Father Symon explained the initial steps regarding the new Kenyan Education Curriculum to members, we felt the need to reserve some funds that may be at hand for implementation of the new curriculum. We would like to be ready to equip the school with whatever will be essential for the changes that the new curriculum will bring to the teachers and students.
AUGUST BREAK
It was reported that students and staff went home for August break on July 28. As it can be imagined, children hardly sleep the night before the leave for home, they wait for the morning with a lot of excitement for parents to come for them. Some days away from the school bell and schedule. They will be with their families and neighbors and have a lot of stories to tell about their life in the school and their friends in the school.
They will be home for a month and hopefully general election will be peaceful and will not have clashes that may prevent schools resuming for the third trimester that is critical for public examination.
We celebrate the life of children in Friends of Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School with all our friends and well-wishers.
https://mhl.hxi.mybluehost.me/website_e30e867a
Fr. Symon Peter Ntaiyia