This archive report was first published on 11 May 2020.
As Kenya prepares for the reopening of schools, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has laid out its demands for a safe return to class. According to a letter dated May 8, 2020, addressed to the cabinet secretary for education George Magoha, KNUT secretary general Wilson Sossion outlined the conditions under which teachers in the union want schools to resume.
The KNUT wants candidates who are set to sit for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) to resume classes first. The union has also demanded that classrooms be rearranged to allow social distancing, school playgrounds be shut, nonessential school visits be limited, school assemblies be suspended, and congregated meals be rearranged.
Additionally, the KNUT has called for the provision of personal protective equipment for teaching and non-teaching staff, the fumigation of school compounds and institution blocks before reopening, and the screening of pupils and staff allowed to access the institutions every morning and evening as a preventive measure.
