This archive report was first published on 18 May 2020.
Kenya's education system is at a crossroads as the country grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. The government's decision to close schools in mid-March has left learners, teachers, and parents anxious about the resumption of studies.
According to Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, schools could reopen as early as mid-June, but the latest extension of the countrywide night curfew and movement restrictions in five counties has pushed the reopening date further.
The Covid-19 Education Response Committee has been tasked with determining the date of getting learners back to school, but the team has also been charged with relooking at the whole question of post-coronavirus education.
With the pandemic having drastically changed the learning landscape, the government must now institutionalise technology in education, providing computers to schools and reorienting teachers to navigate the new environment.
As the country looks to the future, 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.
