This archive report was first published on 14 May 2020.
As the Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha forms a nine-member Covid-19 Education Response Committee to come up with modalities on school reopening, teachers are expressing caution on the partial reopening of schools across the country.
According to the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), students travelling from Covid-19 hotspots such as Old Town in Mombasa and Eastleigh in Nairobi should be tested before reporting to national and extra-county schools.
However, Kuppet Kisumu County Secretary Zablon Awange noted that the partial reopening should be done once new infections have been stopped.
One of the biggest challenges will be the transportation of students, considering restrictions on the number of passengers allowed in public service vehicles and the curfew order.
Teachers are appealing to the Ministry of Health to post some of the newly recruited health personnel to school dispensaries to handle Covid-19 testing in schools.
“NHIF cover for students should be boosted and WHO funding should cater for the treatment of students and teachers with Covid-19,” Mr Awange said.
Acting Kenya National Union of Teachers Kisumu Executive Secretary George Kapiyo noted that it will be a challenge to observe social distancing with the limited infrastructure in schools.
