Economy

Mid-term break introduced amid unrest in high schools

Education Principal Secretary Julius Jwan

Education Principal Secretary Julius Jwan at Jogoo house, Nairobi, on March 2, 2020.

The Ministry of Education has revised the high school calendar for the second term and allowed a four-day break in the wake of student unrest.

In a circular issued Tuesday, the Ministry of Education Principal Secretary Julius Jwan said students will start their half term break on November 19 and resume learning on November 23.

Initially, the school calendar had excluded the mid-term break in the initial calendar and students were to break for Christmas holidays on December 23.

School heads had called for a half-term break to ease the pressure brought about by a demanding crash programme that has resulted in a wave of unrest across the country.

“It has been decided that the half-term break will commence on Friday 19 November 2021. The students will report back on Tuesday 23 November 2021,” said the PS in the circular.

Whereas other terms have breaks, the second term doesn’t have one.

The crash programme has also had shorter holidays as four school terms have been squeezed into the calendar year instead of the usual three.

This was done in an effort to recover the time lost last year when schools closed for ten months after Covid-19 was first reported in the country in March.

The principals last week wrote to the ministry asking to be allowed to take the break as cases of unrest spread throughout the country. There have been several cases of school fires since the beginning of the current term with the unrest attributed to lack of a half term break during the learning session.