The team set up to advise the government on school reopening has its work cut out for it.
Learners, teachers and parents are anxious about resumption of studies that were stopped in mid March, when the government closed schools as it ramped up measures to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Students have spent two months at home although, in terms of the school calendar, they have lost a month since April is normally a holiday.
In the intervening period, schools and colleges have rolled out remote learning programmes but with mixed outcomes.
Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has been integral in running digital programmes via television, radio and the internet, which, though commendable, are not accessible to all learners due to social, technological and geographical challenges.
A fortnight ago, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha told Parliament that schools could reopen early next month.
But following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s latest extension of the countrywide night curfew and movement restrictions in five counties for another three weeks, the reopening date has to be pushed further.
The earliest schools can resume would be mid June. And there are challenges — including transportation of learners and reorganising classrooms and hostels for social distancing.
Whereas for the Covid-19 Education Response Committee the immediate task is to determine the date of getting learners back to school, the team has to relook at the whole question of post-coronavirus education.
The landscape has changed drastically and learning will not be the same as before; it has to shift from traditional to online delivery models.
The government has to institutionalise technology in education, which, among others, means providing computers to schools.
Similarly, teachers require reorientation to navigate the new environment; they have to be retooled on the application of technology for learning. Also, school environment has to be reconfigured to reflect the new realities.
In effect, this is an opportunity to explore the full utilisation of technology in education. With declining economies, governments will no longer employ all the teachers required by schools.
Neither would they be able to provide physical facilities such as classrooms, workshops and laboratories in numbers commensurate with rising student enrolment.
Technology provides the answer to expanding access and guaranteeing quality of learning. Content has to be revised, digitised and made accessible and interactive.
The task force should go beyond recommendations of reopening schools to forecast and make recommendations to catapult the nation to another sphere in education provision and delivery.
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