Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha has said that all basic institutions will be re-opened in January 2021 based on the assumption that the infection curve will have flattened.
Addressing the media shortly after holding a consultative meeting with education stakeholders at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, KICD, in Nairobi, Magoha also says this year’s candidates who were preparing to sit for their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, KCPE and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations, KCSE, will not sit for the same this year but later next year.
‘The school calendar of this year will be considered lost due to COVID-19’, Professor Magoha says.
CS Magoha further says that based on the disturbing trend of COVID-19 cases rising steadily, education stakeholders have shelved the initial proposal to reopen schools in September for Class 8 and Form 4 learners
He added that in consultation with Ministry of Health they have agreed schools to reopen when daily COVID-19 cases reduce consistently for 14 days. Social and physical distancing is the most critical factor in ensuring safety of learners.
He further says all learners in Grade 1 to 4, Standard 5 to 7 and Form 1, 2 and 3 to remain in the same classes in 2021.
However, Magoha says TVETs and colleges will re-open in September but with strict adherence to anti-virus rules.
On his part, the Kenya National Union of Teachers KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion who was among the stakeholders at the meeting says the flattening of the curve is what will guide them on the way forward.
‘Safety of learners and teachers at the place of work is very critical and important. We urge all parents to ensure the safety of the children until such a time that schools will be reopened’, Sossion says.
Yesterday, while addressing the nation on the status of COVID-19 situation in the country, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed CS Magoha to give the nation the calendar of how schools were to be re-opened by today.
Story by Maurice Serreta
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