This archive report was first published on 6 June 2020.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed the Ministry of Education to publish a new academic calendar by mid-August, paving the way for schools to reopen in September 2020.
The decision comes after a surge in Covid-19 cases in Kenya, with the President citing the need to protect the lives of learners and teachers.
On Friday, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha had hinted that schools would not reopen anytime soon, but the President's announcement appears to have changed course.
Magoha had initially set June 4 as the tentative opening date, but later changed his tune on May 28, saying he would not gamble with the lives of learners.
“A child who is at home and alive is better than one who tried to do exams and died,” Magoha said at the time.
President Kenyatta's announcement was made in an address to the Nation from State House-Nairobi on Saturday, where he also directed the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health to jointly issue guidelines on a gradual return to normalcy in the education sector from September 1.
