Kaduna parents, teachers reject public schools 4-day work policy

Parents and teachers have kicked against Kaduna State Government’s decision to migrate to a four-day working week in public schools across the state.

According to the parents and teachers interviewed, the new policy will affect the performance of the pupils negatively.

The state government on Sunday in a statement issued by the Commissioner for Education, Halima Lawal, said the 2021/2022 academic calendar would be adjusted to ensure coverage of the curriculum for the academic session.

She said: “All public schools are to migrate to the 4-day working week while the 2021/2022 academic calendar would be adjusted to ensure coverage of the curriculum for the academic session,” she said.

Reacting to the comment, a parent in Rigasa whose children attend a public school, Aliyu Suleiman, said the policy would affect his children negatively.

“As parents, we are not happy with this policy because it will affect our children’s performance in school.

“Remember what happened in 2020 when public schools were shut down due to pandemic and now the children were struggling to recover, the government came up with this 4-day working week,” he said.

Another parent, Suwidi Zakari, said a day difference will surely affect the life of a child in public school.

“One day can affect a child attending a public school. We hope the government will have a rethink except if they don’t care about our children,” he said.

A teacher, who craved anonymity, kicked against the four-day working week policy, saying instead the government should pay the teachers their regular salary or overtime for the Friday work.

Other teachers spoken to also kicked against the four-day working policy.