Saved by the Bell

At my highschool, class promptly began at 8:20am and we were out the door at 2:24pm barring any after school activities. The best learning took place during period two at 9:$1am in the morning. Students were fully awake and alert, period two took place early enough for students not to think about lunch and being hungry and unlike period 5, period 2 didn't cause students to day dream about leaving the school doors behind. Much time and attention goes into student schedules to make sure students are getting the best possible education. In Kenya, from what I've seen; the time table is much more regimented.

All of the schools have different start and end times but all of them appear to be extreme. The longest school day I know of is from 6:30am to 6:30pm; the majority of schools I go to begin at 7:30am and end at 4:30pm. These are all primary schools. Not all of the schedule is bad but the day is too long for growing children to keep effective concentration.

When I went to primary school, out day began at 8:45am and ended at 3:15pm. It seemed so much more reasonable then what the students must complete in Kenya. Classes don't actually start until 8:20am and end at approx 4pm. Students have thirty five minute periods and an eighty minute lunch with one or two twenty minute breaks depending on the day of the week.

Because students live in slum environments, the education system assumes they won't be able to complete their homework on time. This is where the long day comes into effect. Before and after classes, students are given the opportunity to complete work that they might not complete at home. I actually think this can be a very effective idea but it has its flaws.

For example, even when students have no work to complete, students must still report to school at the prescribed times. This time is unsupervised so there is no incentive for students to actually get work done and most are too young to understand self discipline. Students usually miss out on breakfast, the most important meal of the day and miss that strong start in the morning because of the early wake up call. Students also wake up incredibly early. One ten year old girl who lives in our neighbourhood must wake up each day at 5:30am which frankly is too early for a child that young. Most primary school children are unable to get the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep each night because of long school hours.

I've encountered students who have fallen asleep in class, who have been sent home for the day because they arrived to school at 8:00am and students that are exhausted by the time Friday roles along.

At some of the secondary schools, it is an expectation that students arrive at the same time as the teachers as a sign of respect which again can be as early as 6:30am.

Students must also spend Saturdays in school. This means that students do not have a good amount of time for actual rest between each week and aren't given enough time to be kids.

There are some positives to the class timetables. Schools get to coordinate club activities right into the time table and students so get to take part in fun activities like flag raising, music (choir- the schools don't have instruments), and Youth Alive. Schools can also work together to coordinate sports activities. At one of my elementary schools, the students competed against another school in an Olympic themed afternoon and the students got let out early to do so.

The students look at their timetables and class schedules as normal because they know no different. Especially in primary school, the students are trained to keep up with the rigorous schedule but nobody can keep up under extreme exhaustion. Adults I've talked too know all to well that the schedule is too long and too tiring. The positives of this system do not outweigh the negatives. In some ways, the education system is setting its students up for failure because having a good nights sleep, taking a healthy breakfast and being prepared to learn will always win out against work horse hours and one day weekends. Its good to examine other systems of education to provide the best of the best. The western world could take a look into incorporating club time into the class schedule (I've only heard of private schools doing this) and the developing world could look at what advantages students could receive just by giving them a little more balance in their lives.