The government has announced a mid term break for all secondary schools in the country.
In a notice issued Tuesday, the Ministry has directed that the half term dates starts Friday November 19. Students will then resume learning on Tuesday November 23.
“You are required to bring this information to the attention of all principals of secondary schools within your area of jurisdiction,” principal secretary for Basic Education Dr. Julius Jwan said in the letter addressed to regional and county directors of education.
The break comes amidst rising cases of school unrest. The government has been facing criticism from parents over what has been termed as an insensitive approach to cover the 2020 year which was largely lost to lock downs. Under the current crash programme students have shorter holidays as four school terms have been squeezed into the calendar year instead of the usual three.
The current term, which began on October 11, will end on December 23, followed by a ten-day holiday. The learners will report back to school for Term Three studies on January 3, 2022. The third term ends on March 4, 2022.
School heads had earlier on called on the government to close schools and give students time to breathe. “We’ve written to the Ministry of Education, requesting a break because it’s necessary based on the information we’re getting from our members,” chairperson of the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha), Kahi Indimuli told a local daily in a call for half term dates to be restored.
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“Children have a tendency of asking for certain things in certain ways. We should not wait for other schools to be burnt down before we approve a break. We had not envisaged this, but when you see the escalation even in schools with no such a history, there’s a problem. Such a wave can become contagious.”
