• President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday ordered a gradual reopening of schools beginning September.
• Vital programs to protect venerable children such as the school feeding programme and provision of sanitary towels to teenage girls have been affected.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Education officials will this week begin crafting new term dates, effectively confronting the fate of KCPE and KCSE exams among other programmes.
The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education test was scheduled to run from November 2-3, while the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam was scheduled for November 4-30.
However, President Uhuru Kenyatta's directive on Saturday to extend the shutdown of schools until September put uncertainty over the candidates' preparation for exams.
The Covid-19 Education Emergency Response Committee will lead the making of the new school calendar.
The announcement by President Kenyatta has received the backing of the top teacher's unions Kuppet and Knut.
Akello Misori, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers secretary general, welcomed the directive. He said it was doable if proper steps to protect children and teachers are taken.
However, Wilson Sossion, the Kenya national union of Teachers' secretary general, called for adequate preparation before any attempts to reopen.
"We need to take advantage of the period between now and when the schools will be ready to reopen to correct the problem that has been underlying, have good infrastructure, enough water, washrooms, desks, and teachers," Sossion told the Star on Sunday.
Primary and secondary schools will have lost 17 weeks of class by then, making completion of syllabus coverage impossible.
The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development requires teachers to complete syllabus coverage by September.
Already affected by the shutdown are term one exams, KCSE practical tests, such as agriculture, metal and woodwork done in select institutions that were to begin in February.
The implementation of the new education system rolled out to Grade 4 in January is also lagging behind schedule.
Vital programmes to protect venerable children such as the school feeding and provision of sanitary towels to teenage girls have been affected.
Sporting and arts activities and internship programmes for students in higher learning institutions are at a standstill.
In his address to the Nation on Saturday, the President directed a new school calendar be made and released by mid-August. He urged officials to put in place safety protocols that will guide the reopening of schools.
Nicholas Maiyo, the Kenya Parents Association chairman, on Sunday supported the government's decision. However, he called for proper analysis and blueprint to curb the potential outbreak of coronavirus.
The parent's spokesman also asked the government to be keen on ensuring learners recover the lost time fully before exams are conducted.
"There are international standards students must be rated with their world peers, must comply with minimum requirements, hours, globally registered and circulated syllabus and so on... It is therefore important ample time is given before any exam is conducted," Maiyo said.
University and colleges
For universities, the institutions will be ushering a new academic year in September.
The institutions’ calendar entered the long holiday period that runs for three months from May.
Should colleges and universities be considered first in line during the reopening, it will also be a reprieve to the KCSE class of 2019 that is set to report to universities in September.
Teaching colleges, which will be taking students in the pioneer diploma class, will admit a cohort in September.
The diploma class will be an upgrade of teacher training from the previous certificate qualification famously referred to as P1.
The Kenya Medical Training College will equally open its doors for new students.
Protocols
When schools resume in-person classes, things will look a lot different than what they were previously.
Wider spacing, controlled movement in and out of school, use of protective gear and hygiene practices will be the new normal.
The team will look into the screening measures to be adopted to arrest virus spread in the earliest opportunity possible.
Public health experts have said plans for intermittent closures in the event of further outbreaks — in which case remote learning would continue — should be put in place.
(edited by o. owino)