12The Star News

September 23, 2015

Candidates are set to start writing the Kenya Certificate of Secondary and Primary Education exams mid-October.

But teachers have been told that under no circumstances are they to report to their schools. Therefore, students are having to find ways, in their already poorly resourced schools, to not only access learning material, but to go through revisions and practice exams on their own.

Teachers play an enormous role during revision, especially given the fact that in Kenya the student-textbook ratio is 3:1. It is not hard to find classes where there is only one textbook to go around.

One of the reasons cited for the closing of schools is the insecurity building in classrooms as students sat idle. If the students had material for revision and studying, and a conducive environment to do so, perhaps this would not have been the case.

This is why libraries in schools play such a vital role. In Kenya, most schools do not have enough textbooks to go around, let alone revision or recreational reading material and a place to house it all.

See the full article in the Star: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/schools-closed-pupils-can-only-turn-libraries