Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has declared teaching beyond stipulated time as mental torture for learners.
For the umpteenth time, the government has reiterated that school hours start from 8am to 3.45pm.
Mr Machogu made the remarks at Nairobi Primary School at the start of the distribution of Junior Secondary School (JSS) textbooks.
“The normal school day should start from 8:00am up to 3:45pm. Let us not subject our students and pupils to unnecessary mental torture,” he said.
Some schools are forcing students to commute in the wee hours of the morning and late in the evening, he warned.
“You will meet students walking on the streets very early in the morning heading to school for remedial lessons. I have seen some buses ferrying students at 10.00pm as they head back home. We will not allow that,” he added.
Some parents have been defying such orders from the government over the years.
Almost every school in the country has insisted on extra teaching that has been given described in various ways, including tuition and remedial teaching for which parents and guardians are charged extra fees every term.
Primary school pupils and those in day secondary schools report from as early as 6am, irrespective of the distance and leave late in the evening, leading to mental exhaustion.
Holiday tuition was banned in Kenyan schools, but some parents make private arrangements with teachers for their children to undergo the so-called “remedial” studies.
Mr Machogu emphasised that the government will make learning enjoyable and stress-free, focusing on ensuring that students get enough sleep and have a positive school experience.
He also said that the government is taking a closer look at the subjects that Junior Secondary School students will be covering, intending to streamline the curriculum to ease the burden on students.
Efforts to challenge the extra tuition and charges have divided parents, giving schools and teachers more room to continue with the illegal programmes, claiming they are searching for top grades in national exams.
In a number of schools, the remedials have muted and killed extra- and co-curricular programmes such as sports and club activities that gave learners time to relax and take a breather from academics.
