Holidaytuition ongoing in Kibera despitethe government banning it
By WANJALA B. DANSON
The daily routine of a student going for holiday tuition came to an end when the government banned holiday tuition in all private and public schools in Kenya. However this isnot the case with teachers, students and parents in Kibera primary and secondary schools in addition to backstreetteachers who are still conducting holiday tuition.
Education Minister in the previous government Mutula Kilonzo banned holiday tuition in both private and public primary and secondary schools. The Minister declared tuition a violation of children’s constitutional right as provided for under the Bill of Rights; Article 5 of the Kenyan Constitution . He issued a directive stopping any kind of institutionalized and paid for remedial teachings countrywide adding that anyone found disregarding the order will be dealt with according to the law.
The ban was widely opposed by Kenya National Union for Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teacher (KUPPET) and the Kenya Private Schools Association who argued the move will lower the quality of education in Kenya. They also added that most childrendon’thave comfortable homes for extra studies during the holiday. KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion accused Mutula of failing to consult the stakeholders over the matter.
It remains a thing on paperin that schools in Kibera are still conducting holiday tuition.According toinformation on the ground, teachers are charging Ksh 500 for primary school pupils and Ksh 1000 for students in secondary schools.
Residents of Kibera have aired their voices saying children in the area arespending most of their time in school than they spend with them.“Holiday tuition is a form of corruption by teachers to retracting moneyfrom parents in the form of assisting pupils and students craps what they missed during the normal learning period,” said Mohamed Yusuf a parent at Raila Education Center .
According to JamesWaweru a parent and resident of Laini Saba area in Kibera, schoolmanagements and teachersare takingadvantage parents to get money in the name of tuition. “Teachers who are carrying out tuition in the name of assisting students are just thieves taking advantage of parents. They should be arrested,” he commented.
Another parentJaneOlando has a bitter experience with schools insisting on holiday tuition. In her view, during normal school days, teachers laze around not attending to their lessons or worse of are notavailable in the school compound for several days of the week.
“Teachers cannot attend to their lessons during normal school calendar. Somedo not report to their school which is their workplace,” she lamented. “When you go to some public schools in Kibera you will find teachers beating stories in staffroom or outsidebasking in the sun knowing they will cover up time wasted during holiday tuition in addition to earning money,” she added.
According to the Uwezo Kenya survey, nationally, on a single day 13 out of 100 teachers are not in school or attend to their lessons. ‘In many county in Kenya, more than 4 out of 10 children miss school daily and 7 out of 10 children in class 3 cannot do class 2 work,’ stated the survey.
However, according to a teacher of Soweto secondary school who spoke on condition of anonymity, tuition is a good deal for students specially those who are slow learners. “Tuitionenables us to cover the syllabus in time and assist those students who are slow learners to catch up with the rest of the class. Those who are fast learner get more understanding of the subject,” he asserted.
The teacherfurtheraddedthat the little money they charge students is to enable them run the programsuccessful.
Mary Ochen’gi a form four student says tuition should have banned because it enables them to complete the syllabus in time and have additional time to revise before examinations.“We are using tuition to finish the syllabus in time and have more time to revise our work before KCSE exams,” she said.
Under Basic Education Regulations 2015 r which were gazettedpublished April 14, 2015 last week by Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, learners will arriving at school before 7.15am with class hours commencing from 8am to 3.30pm from Monday to Friday and remain closed on holidays of April August and December every year .
However, education officers from the ministry of education Langata Sub-County maintain holiday tuition is illegal and they will deal with those found according to the law.