It’s all systems go as schools re-open Monday and government sending a message of hope to learners and teachers after a nine-month Covid-19 hiatus.
The team overseeing school reopening because of the pandemic expressed optimism on Sunday that lost time will be recovered and children and teachers will be safe from the virus in schools.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said the government had done “everything” to ensure schools are ready to reopen from Monday.
Magoha urged he media to paint a positive picture of the reopening, saying it would be of no use to the country if the focus is on “little hitches here and there”.
The reopening of schools will mark the beginning of the Second Term of the school calendar, which will end in mid-March.
Addressing the media after a four-hour meeting at KICC in Nairobi, Magoha assured Kenyans their children will not be sent back home for lack of school fees. He said the government recognises the financial pain caused by the pandemic.
“However, parents who are able to pay should clear the fees, especially those with children in boarding schools. When your children were at home, they were eating. You do not expect them not to eat when they are in school,” the CS said.
Magoha said more thaan 500, 000 new desks will be delivered to public schools this week and more than three million masks will be made available to needy children.
The Education CS said, however, school will be faced with a social distqncing nightmare among young learners who are eager to socialise.
“It will be a huge challenge but that will not stop us from reopening. I know this will be one area that people will make a lot of noise about,” he said.
Magoha said that the government will disburse Sh14 billion for secondary schools by Friday at the latest and more than Sh4 billion for primary schools by Tuesday as capitation funds.
There have been calls for more money to be sent to schools since the figure announced by the CS is the normal amount the sector gets, even without the pandemic.
Kenya has23,000 public primary schools with more than 12 million pupils and more than three million students in secondary schools.
Schools will also be required to have thermal guns and hand washing stations with running water, as well as sanitiser.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said a joint command centre has been established at his ministry to oversee the reopening of schools.
“The centre will coordinate activities of the stakeholders including various government ministries, the Teachers Service Commission, schools, the Council of Governors and education organisations,” he said.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe called for a close collaboration among all stakeholders. “We do not want to reopen and then close after a few days because of doing some things wrong. This is why we took our time and involved everybody,” he added.
Kagwe added the Covid-19 positivity rate is quite low at less than five per cent, a figure he said should decline further.
“Once vaccines are available, in the next one month or so, we will also consider teachers first as they are a vulnerable group,” he said.
The Council of Governors, which was represented at the meeting by Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga and his Kisii counterpart James Ongwae, said counties will work hand in hand with all stakeholders to ensure learning resumes smoothly.
“We want to pass a message of hope to all learners and teachers. Counties will see to it that all protocols laid out by the ministries of Health and Education are followed to the letter,” stated Kahiga.
Kahiga added counties ts will play a critical role in ensuring lost time is recovered.
Present at the meeting were Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani (Treasury), James Macharia (Transport) and Cecily Kariuki (Water). Others were organisations representing teachers, schools (both private and public) and parents.
In its plan to resuscitate the economy, the government has committed to spend Sh28.8 billion to construct additional classrooms in the next two years. About Sh10 billion will be used to hire additional primary and secondary school teachers during the same period.
The school feeding programme will also be expanded to cover more institutions.
Some schools began to gradually reopen in October after they were shut in March. The reopening includes international schools, which will also reopen from Monday.