Schools across the country are set to re-open on October 12.
Education CS George Magoha (pictured) announced on Tuesday that Grade 4, Class 8 and Form 4 students will resume learning activities that were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
All students and staff will be required to wear face masks, subjected to temperature screenings, wash their hands and observe high levels of hygiene.
“Where there is no running water, schools will use sanitisers,” Magoha said while acknowledging the challenge of physical distancing among the students.
“Although physical distancing will remain a challenge, it should not be used as a bottleneck to keep any child away from school,” he said.
The ministry has fumigated all the learning institutions that had been designated as quarantine centres under the supervision of the Ministry of Health prior to their re-opening.
All teachers were encouraged to continuously provide psychosocial and spiritual support to learners and school support staff in the wake of the pandemic.
It has been a week since the teachers were ordered to report back to schools in preparation for reopening.
Schools have been closed for more than six months due to the risk posed by the contagious virus to the learners.
And following the flattening of the curve, there has been confusion on when to reopen with Prof Magoha issuing unclear messages.
World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had earlier on released a statement urging African countries to reopen schools citing malnourishment and sexual violence facing some learners at home.
WHO argued that most African children from low income earning families risk suffering from malnutrition for lacking proper feeding they normally get in school feeding programs. WHO said that this and sexual violence pose serious health risks to the African school-going children currently kept at home.
Universities reopen
Public university and colleges resumed learning yesterday (October 5).
The Ministry of Education announced last week that students in their final year of study in all public universities and tertiary institutions to report first before others are allowed back.
The Magoha-led team also said that the reopening will only take place once respective institutions observe strict adherence to the Covid-19 health and safety protocols.
All those entering the institutions will be required to observe high level of hygiene, wear face masks, wash their hands and adopt innovative approaches to uphold the guidelines on physical and social distancing.
President Uhuru Kenyatta during his 12th presidential address had said the ministry in consultation with the Ministry of Health would be preparing a timetable for the resumption of learning in all the institutions.
Education officials and public health officials will continuously monitor and review the levels of compliance with respect to the protocols.
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