More needs to be done to reduce mandatory school learning duration

A round up on the safety of school children waking up at dawn in Eastlands, Nairobi to go their various schools. [Elvis Ogina.Standard]

Last week's warning by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu to schools to stop extending learning hours beyond the official stipulated time had a weary ring of deja vu.

Across the country, many public and private schools start their school days well before 7am and end after 5pm. In addition, they make it compulsory for learners in upper primary school and those in secondary, including the new kid on the bloc -junior secondary - to report to school on Saturdays. The sight of ubiquitous revving buses draped in yellow, scrambling to pick up learners on the streets just after dawn is as commonplace as the wild and disorderly bodabodas. It's more pronounced in these cold July days when the learners are dressed like onions with layers and layers of clothes and hats.