Members of the board of Management of Kiambu Township primary school today held a meeting to strategize on emerging issues of how best to handle pupils following the longest holidays in the history of learning in Kenya.
During the meeting that was held at the school headteacher’s office, Mr. Francis Mkiebe, the chairman of the board said the meeting had been necessitated by the abnormal closure of 9 months which compelled the learners to remain at home for months in an effort to avert contracting corona virus.
“We planned to meet today so that we can put in place proper measures to enable proper learning in adherence to the MOH protocols.”
The school headteacher Mr. John Mwania said the pupils were settling down following the unexpected holiday and that the process was on course.
Speaking to KNA at the School, the headteacher mentioned that their classrooms have a total of 70 students per classroom which is quite a huge number of learners. “Social distancing will not be possible at the moment but the pupils are all wearing masks which is mandatory.
He further revealed that some masks were donated to the school by the Governor of Kiambu Dr. James Nyoro, area MP Mr. Jude Jomo and the MCA Mr. Antony Ikonya as a safety measure for those who might report to school without them
Kenya’s Ministry of Education also directed school administrators not to let fees pose a barrier to students’ ability to receive an education.
“At the moment we have a total of 45 water points around the school” Said Mr. Mwania. Schools must comply with strict new health guidelines dictated by the government through the ministry of health, he noted
The re-opening of Schools in Kenya comes amid reports of a decline within the range of COVID-19 infections that stood at 96,802 per yesterday.
Public and private schools were shut down indefinitely after the first COVID-19 case was confirmed on March 12, 2020 with no alternative learning options. The closure has been among the longest in the continent that interrupted learning for over seventeen million students, according to UNICEF.
The Cabinet Secretary for education Prof George Magoha cautioned on July 7th that the “2020 school calendar year will be considered lost due to COVID-19 restrictions”. However, he appointed a taskforce which came up with a new school calendar which was effective on October 12th, 2020.
The announcement threw the learners into a limbo thus threatening the loss of education gains made as at the time of the killer virus into the country and also the implementation of a replacement competency-based course of study.
By Lydia shiloya and Velma Mukhwana
