It is unfortunate that the hopes I had in Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu are fading fast. Many of us were of the view that Machogu would be among the first Ministers to settle down by dint of him having served in the provincial administration for long time and later as MP.

That view is speedily thinning away in the parentheses of service delivery, even on small matters like enforcing his own directives.

The Ministry of Education is the noisiest and most chaotic in the country today. Unfulfilled promises, lamentations and blame-shifting are the order of the day. I am beginning to think that Machogu’s talents are better utilised elsewhere, not in his current docket.

Soon after he assumed office, Machogu pronounced himself, for the first time by a Minsiter in charge, on the stipulated class time for primary and secondary schools.

In his directive, he reminded education stakeholders that guidelines require learners to attend class between 8am and 4:30pm and ordered school heads to ensure the regulation is strictly adhered to.

Said Machogu: “It is clearly stipulated in the curriculum that learning begins at 8am and ends at 3:45pm. We are subjecting our learners to unnecessary struggles by waking them up at 4am to attend lessons in schools at 6am.”

To many parents and learners, the statement was most welcome. So because, whereas what he was reminding the stakeholders about class time had always been there in the curriculum, none of his predecessors had mustered the guts to enforce it. The guideline has over the years been flouted with impunity.

Ministers who came before Machogu failed to implement it and therefore the former District Commissioner had breathed freshness into the ears and minds of parents and learners.

For a long time, stakeholders – with the help of news purveyors and NGOs – revisited the subject but a rigid Ministry of Education looked the other way. It was against that background that I heaped praise on Machogu when he made the announcement.

As noted by the Minister himself, learners are subjected to very agonising experiences in the name of preparing them for national exams. Unfortunately, Machogu’s order went with the wind. Schools have not implemented it. Impunity reigns.

Young learners are woken up as early as 3am to start preparing for school where – in some stances – learning starts at 5am. The children remain in school until after 7pm and it will be way past 8pm when majority of them arrive home.

The situation is worse during rainy seasons when some of them have to stay in school until the rains are over or have to walk home in rain and darkness. At home, they go to bed at 11pm or past, depending on the homework they have to accomplish before sleeping. It means these youngsters will have an estimated three hours of sleep before they start another tiring schooling day.

This is not acceptable. We thought Machogu knows so and hoped that he would follow up on his directive. He has not. Which is very disappointing. A huge let down.

At no time in our country should we allow a situation where systems are created to compel learners to hate school. Education should not be made to look as if it is punishment.

Machogu took over the reins at Jogoo House from a committed stalwart – Prof George Magoha who passed away last year.

While Magoha did not implement the school timelines, the scholar practically devoted his soul and mind to the plight of learners. He traversed the length and breadth of Kenya looking for, or providing, answers to the numerous challenges in the education sector, especially to the disadvantaged.

Once again, I urge Machogu to take cue from Magoha. The Minister should not sit and feel pretty in his air-conditioned Jogoo House office only to issue decrees and edicts without following up on them. He has to be in the field. He has to ensure that the directives he issues are implemented to the letter by every ministry officer and every school.

Mr Minister, please enforce your directive on class time and move on with the other pressing matters.

—The writer is the Revise Editor, People Daily — [email protected]