Principal A said that a lot of learning time was lost, which they tried hard to compensate for through extra classes.
Most of these children carry the burden in their homes. Boys go fishing to earn an income to support their families. Girls stay home to do house chores and babysit for their mothers who are away trading in the market or on the farm. (Principal A)
Much as the school was willing to support children who missed school, there was a hurdle, according to the principal. “The only challenge is how to motivate teachers in my school to do extra teaching outside normal teaching hours.” The principal clarified that schools did not have extra funds for extra learning, it was entirely the burden of parents. They always persuaded parents to contribute to support teachers, but this was only achievable for candidate classes when parents struggled to support the school, knowing that without extra learning their children would fail exams. However, he said the support was not anything significant, per- haps just a kind gesture that teachers appreciated.
We don’t give them anything monetary, just something small to motivate them. You buy Mwalimu [teacher] something like a jug, a flask and they will appreciate. There is nothing like payment [in the form of money]. It is just out of their good heart that they are doing that [teaching extra].
(Principal A)
The principal in School B agreed that the effects of transfers to other schools minimised time-on-task.
As a principal affected by the situation, I inform my pupils of the intended host schools and then distribute some of my teachers to those schools.
While some pupils would form new classes with the distributed teachers, others joined other pupils in the host classrooms. (Principal B)
He emphasised a lack of proper and adequate resources, overstretched facilities (e.g. toilets, classrooms, etc.) and a challenge in the management of a big crowd. Again, teacher distribution was not automatic, “because different subject teachers have probably been displaced and so learning cannot take place in those particular subjects.” When asked how they ensured pupils came to school in these circumstances, he said,
Access was not an issue, as pupils camp next to, or in, schools. We adjust our timetables to accommodate everyone. Mostly, it rains in the afternoon so the pupils come in the morning and leave by noon before it starts rain- ing; and after floods, we create extra time to make up for the time lost.
(Principal B)
When teachers were dispatched to the host school to find out learners’
progress, the principal acknowledged that,
There is no meaningful learning during floods, because some learners get into schools that were ahead, or behind, in the syllabus. We make sure that when they come back we go back to where we had left before the floods and begin there. That is when we come up with weekend programmes, new timetables i.e. coming to school very early in the morning, to begin lessons from 7 a.m. until 6 in the evening. Remember these children are very poor and cannot go a whole day on only one meal that the school can provide.
So we call on the county administration and school management to join in encouraging parents to return to their homes. But it is really upon the school to know where pupils are. (Principal B)
Yes, I look for time outside the normal learning hours [over the weekend]
and accommodation for pupils. Even my Class Eights [Std 8 pupils] are putting up in the school at the moment. Special attention is given to Class Eights. Those are allowed by the school to board whether their parents are camping there [at school] or not. But from Class Seven to ECDE, they are allowed to join their parents in different camps until the situation nor- malises. This means I have to look for money from well-wishers to buy food for staff and some of the basic needs. However, the quality of educa- tion is affected because of a very big number of complete, and half-orphans whose parents died of HIV/AIDS mainly due to poverty and other causal linkages. Other common causes of parental death especially in the deep rural areas are drowning. This compromises learning time, forcing pupils to have to repeat classes that they do not like to do. They drop out of school to go do other activities especially fishing. (Principal C)
Principal D talked of challenges leading to poor performance and low standards as a result of non-school attendance.
This is partly because of the incomplete syllabus, or a lack of concentration in class. Transfer to new schools and loss of learning material also distracts pupils from learning, resulting in poor performance. Relating to poor per- formance are cases of repetition and dropouts. Transition to the next class is based on merit. Because of poor performance, mostly caused by a lack of learning resources and lost learning time, pupils may be asked to repeat classes. Usually some parents and pupils are hesitant to do so. Furthermore, those that repeat get demoralised and eventually drop out. Dropouts are also characterised by the disrupted socioeconomic way of life, where learn- ers forget school and decide to go fishing to get quick money. (Principal D)
When children in impoverished environments learn to make money at an early age, they tend to believe education is not as beneficial.’
The many immoral activities happening at the camps distracted learn- ers mostly leading to dropouts, early pregnancies and marriages. “There
is hardly quality time for learning before, and after floods. When the river bank burst, learning stops, as the society prioritises other issues”
(Principal E).