On Kaduna’s four working days system

It is no longer news that the Kaduna State government has migrated to four working days a week. With the new policy, civil servants are expected to work from Monday to Thursday as a way of boosting productivity, improving work-life balance and enabling workers to have more time for their families, rest and agricultural activities.  I think these are good reasons enough to warrant the adoption of the policy.

Besides, in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is reported that some advanced countries adopted the four working days policy and it has worked perfectly for them. However, it is not wrong for developed countries with strong institutions and effective workforce to migrate to such policy. Those countries have adequate trained and experienced manpower. By reducing the working day, nothing will change.

In the case of Kaduna, which is the first state in the country to adopt the policy, it seems to have come at a wrong time. With the extension of the policy from ministries to the education sector, public schools can only open for four days; one is forced to disagree entirely with the state government’s action.

The governor must have known that schools operate using syllabus and curriculum developed by National Educational Research and Development council (NERDC). This syllabus is used by all schools including the private schools. If our poorly funded public schools are to continue with the four working days policy, it means their counterpart in the private sector and others states will move far ahead of them. This is sad development.

My concern about the policy is that, unless it is quickly reversed, the education sector will suffer greatly and this will have a multiplier effect.

Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua,

Kaduna State.

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