Short lesson time, longer learning weeks and reduced class work are some of the options education stakeholders proposed to recover a lost school year.
It has also been suggested to eliminate school-based exams that eat up two weeks of every term, and instead adopt formative assessment.
Primary and secondary school heads yesterday said term one and two topics can be consolidated to make it easier to cover the syllabus when schools open in January.
“We can reduce weekend and holiday breaks and adopt crash-learning programmes,” said Kenya Primary School Heads Association national chairman Nicholas Gathemia.
According to Mr Gathemia, school reporting time and time allocated to lessons can also be adjusted.
Presently, each lesson under the new curriculum is expected to last 30 minutes with a total of five lessons every day at pre-primary level and seven lessons for lower primary learners.
Pupils in Pre-Primary One and Two (PP1 &II) should be taught 25 lessons per week while lower primary classes (Grade I, II &III) have 35 lessons.
Pupils in special needs education schools should be taught 20 lessons every week.
Kenya Secondary School Heads Association national chairman Kahi Indimuli said lesson time could be reviewed to ensure more lessons are covered.
“A lesson that lasts 40 minutes may take 30 minutes with shorter breaks in between,” said Mr Indimuli.
He added that more time will be recovered if learners are allowed to pick specialisation subjects in Form Two instead of Form Three.
“This means they will only study a maximum of eight subjects instead of 11. This will greatly save on teaching time.”
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers Secretary General Akello Misori suggested that the ministry can redefine how many days constitute a school week to create more study time.
“A week may not be five days. Ways must be found to utilise weekends and holidays, or half-term breaks reduced,” said Mr Misori.
The proposals were floated one day after Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha assured parents and learners that the 2020 academic year will not be lost.
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Prof Magoha said the timetable for learners still at home–grade 1-3, class five to seven and form one to three–will be reviewed to avoid delays in transition.
According to the plan under discussion, the new school year would start in June after candidates have been examined.
Misori, however, proposed that class content could be reduced with only essential topics covered to salvage the academic year.
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