•The schools will reopen for third term on May 10 for all classes except Grade Four and Form One.
•By Thursday 569,244 people had been inoculated with the vaccine, including 92,000 teachers.
Image: Douglas Okiddy
All teachers and support staff in schools, regardless of age, have been allowed to jump the queue and receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
Until now, the state had prioritised the school managers and some 25,000 teachers aged 58 and above.
However, while releasing the KCPE results on Thursday, Education CS George Magoha said President Uhuru Kenyatta had authorised all teachers and non-teaching staff to jump the queue and get the vaccine before schools reopen on May 10.
“This morning, His Excellency the President has directed that all teachers and support staff in our schools be allowed to take up the Covid-19 vaccination as part of the measures to ensure that our schools are safe from the virus,” Magoha said.
By Thursday, 569,244 people had been inoculated, with an equal number of doses waiting to be taken.
Magoha said the ministry is monitoring the country’s Covid-19 situation and the schools’ preparedness to adhere to all health guidelines to curb the spread of the virus.
The schools will reopen for third term on May 10 for all classes except Grade Four and Form One.
Teachers Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia also advised tutors travelling to Nairobi to mark KCSE to ensure that they are vaccinated against Covid-19 before they move as caution is required.
She said, by Thursday, 92,246 teachers had taken the jab. “When we began we had talked of teachers 50 years and above but today we’re appealing to all teachers to get the jab as we open schools,” she said.
Macharia said in primary schools countrywide, the pandemic had killed 15 teachers, three deputy heads and eight headteachers.
Countrywide, a total of 44 teachers in primary and secondary schools have died.
“We don’t want to lose any teachers and we empathise with their families,” she said.
Macharia urged the teachers to check in the 622 vaccine centres, some of which are located in schools.
The KCPE was the first national exam to be done under the Ministry of Health guidelines in combating Covid-19.
Kenya’s vaccination strategy goes up to June 2023, by which time it expects to have received about 49 million doses.
The vaccine rollout will be done in three phases. The first involves 1.25 million people and runs between now and June 2021.
This phase targets medics and other frontline workers including security personnel and elderly teachers.
Phase two will run between July 2021 and June 2022, targeting the most vulnerable, including the elderly and those above 18 years with comorbidities.
This has also been amended and any Kenyan above 58 years is eligible to take the vaccine.
Phase two targets 9.76 million people. Phase three focuses on other vulnerable groups of people of 18 years and above in congregations, hospitality and the tourism industry. The phase will run between July 2022 and June 2023. It targets 4.9 million people.