Kenyan Education Minister Ezekiel Machogu has banned early morning and late evening teaching in schools, saying: “We don’t want to burden the children – children need to sleep for nine hours”. (BBC)
Mr. Machogu ordered that classes in both private and public primary schools be held between 8:00 am and 3:45 pm to ensure that learning takes place within the stipulated times.
“The syllabus should be covered appropriately between the stipulated time. Let’s not subject students to unnecessary mental torture,” he added.
The minister said he had noticed a trend where school buses are picking up children as early as 5am and not dropping them off until 8pm.
The issue of school report times is controversial in Kenya.
The BBC conducted an investigation in 2021 when there was a spike in arson attacks at secondary boarding schools, revealing that pupils were in class from as early as 4:30am to 10pm. Students interviewed subsequently complained of a tight academic schedule and lack of extracurricular activities.
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