Oddha Military Camp (OMC), a private secondary school in Moyale, has impressed the Moyale Sub-County Education committee members by the complex measures they have taken to counter the spread of the Covid-19 virus within school.
This was expressed by the Moyale Assistant County Commissioner one (ACC I) David Mutuku who led the committee members during the second day inspection tour by the committee within the sub-county on the preparedness of how both public and private schools have taken to make sure that they counter and any outbreak because of the high population of students and the members of staff within the institution.
The committee noted that there was sufficient clean running water points for hand washing and soaps, all the students had face masks and a lot of rain water has been stored in both plastic tanks and underground water tanks.
The schools’ principal Elisha Ameka told the committee that before they opened, the school management had to make sure that Ministry of Health protocols were met by the students within school, and made sure that they had enough water.
“At the schools gate, we have a thermo gun where we monitor every visitors’ temperature. We also made sure that when the students reported back to school, they were issued with a pair of washable face masks and it is mandatory to be worn whenever they are in classes, and we have thermo guns which we take body temperatures every morning and record them,” Ameka said.
Mutuku however advised school head teachers to make sure that they have sufficient washing points and thermo guns in the schools to ensure that learners are safe adding the reason why the committee was touring all the learning institutions was to evaluate where the government could intervene and support needy learners to improve institutions.
The committee observed that cases of underage girls subjected to being removed from school to be married off was a great concern and recommended that it should be keenly followed up on.
The committee also recommended that the school head teachers work closely with area chiefs and their assistants to make a follow-up and compile a comprehensive list of pupils who have not reported back to school that would be used to trace them.
During the second day of the tour, the committee again noted that in many public primary schools, learners did not meet the Ministry of Health Covid-19 protocols especially hand washing, wearing of masks and social-distancing due to lack of infrastructure like classes and desks.
By Gatana Muchira
