Kenyan Ministry of Education Announces School Reopening Plan

Schools plan to reopen after six months of closure due to COVID-19 [Wikimedia Commons]

Following six months of school closure due to COVID-19, Kenyan Secretary of Education George Mahoga announced a plan to reopen primary and secondary schools on September 21.

In his announcement, Mahoga recommended a timeline for reopening between October 4 and October 19. The plan includes strict public health guidelines to which children and teachers must adhere. Additionally, there was a recommendation to change the January through November school calendar to begin in June. 

This decision was informed by recent trends that show a relatively low case rate of COVID-19 among Kenyans. As of September 25, Kenya has reported only 691 deaths and 38,115 cases. According to a May study by The Ministry of Health, about 90 percent of Kenyans infected are asymptomatic. 

Kenya garnered international attention in July when it declared the 2020 school year to be “lost,” cancelling 2020 instruction and pushing the academic year to 2021. It was the only country to take such extreme academic measures to counter virus spread in school settings.

Reopening schools seems to be a crucial step in combating some issues arising from COVID-19 school closures. With the economy in disaster and schools out of session, children have resorted to taking on manual labor to provide for their families. In addition, early marriages and teen pregnancies have significantly increased in various counties. 

However, the choice to reopen schools is not greeted with universal approval. 

With an economy predominantly reliant on the informal sector, more than 90 percent of Kenyans have reported a loss of income, and nearly 75 percent have turned to their savings in order to get by. Amid massive job losses, parents are facing school fees to cover uniforms, face masks, soap, and hand sanitizer. Many are unsure if they can afford the costs.

In an interview with the Nation newspaper, Terry Njeru, a mother in Meru County, said, “We simply don’t have the money to take children back to school. So many people have lost their jobs and businesses are failing.” She added, “The cost of taking the children back to school is too high. We need adequate preparation. It’s not just about the fees. There are many other incidentals.”

Teachers face uncertainties regarding health guidelines and sanitation procedures in schools. Schools that had been used as quarantine centers have not yet been fumigated, and teachers claim the government has not been doing enough to aid in school reopening efforts. 

Shortly after Mahoga’s announcement, school heads asked the Ministry of Education for an aid package of 13.3 billion Kenyan Shillings (about $122,607,938) for the reopening of schools. 

During a presidential address on September 28, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta did not confirm a concrete date for school reopenings. Instead, he stressed that “Learning institutions should only be reopened when we have and can sufficiently guarantee the safety of all our children. Let us not focus on when schools will reopen but on how they will reopen.”