One of the empty classroom at the Micheal Wamalwa high School Birunda in Trans Nzoia West District after the students were told to go home for two weeks. [PHOTOS | Leonard Wamalwa]

Learning activities at Michael Wamalwa High school Birunda in Trans Nzoia West district has been halted for two weeks since Thursday last week in what the school principal Agnes Barasa termed to be half term session.

The move has raised many questions from the parents and students especially form four candidates who are now employing desperate measures to learn on their own to cover some of the topics they claimed has not been covered.

Form four students opted to go contrary to the school’s half term requirements of having them remain at home throughout the mid-term period noting that they could not concentrate on studies as they could be engaged in domestic activities to assist their parents.

“We decided to come back in school and be able to teach ourselves some of the topics that we have not covered in various subjects because we have not up to this moment covered the syllabus,” said one of the students who sought anonymity.

Some of the form four students who opted to stay in school to teach themselves reason being if they went home, they would be given tasks to do affecting their studies.

When the school was toured by West FM on a fact finding mission, the students confirmed that they had been told on Thursday evening last week by their deputy head teacher that they were to go on mid-term recess and were required to report back on July 2nd with complete school fees..

Parents told West FM that they were perturbed by the principal’s move which they said has never been experienced in any learning institution in the area and thus some of them were quick to point out that it was meant at having their children fail in exams.

Led by Joash Kisiangani and Edward Barasa the parents accused the principal for not being serious in her management of the school and thus employing tactics that are not friendly to learning activities.

“We are very much confused and do not know what to do because the principal has done something that we have never seen anywhere in this country by giving the students ten days half-term,” Kisiangani said.

Call for intervention

The parents have now called on the ministry of education to intervene the matter in order to have normalcy attained in the institution.

They also called for the immediate transfer of the principal saying she has been a non committed administrator who does not care about the whereabouts of the students so that they can get a more serious principal who will give priority to the education of their children.

Area district education officer Enock Okwemba was accused for covering the principal despite the evident failures experienced at the school.

Earlier on when the complaints were first heard, the DEO told West FM that the allegations were not true and insisted that learning was going on normally.

But surprising enough when West FM toured the school, the situation was vice-versa and that’s why the parents questioned the source of the DEO’s office information and wonder if the officers do any inspections in schools to monitor the performances and managements of the institutions.

The principal is said to have gone for the heads meeting in Mombasa. Efforts by West FM to get her comment were futile as her phone went unanswered.