Education in Kenya is ready to resume, even before the deadlines set last July, if the data and percentages of the pandemic remain unchanged for at least two or three weeks.
This is the gist of the statements of the Kenyan Minister of Education George Magoha, who in a statement made last Friday warned the parents of the pupils to prepare for a possible early resumption of classes.
Last July, in the midst of the Covid-19 emergency, President Kenyatta announced that the current school year would be cancelled, given that in practice only the first three months of lessons had gone on stage, canceling even the primary and secondary school exams, to resume in January 2021, without failures or promotions, then resuming where it had stopped.
Now, while confirming that also this time the final decision will be up to the Head of State, Magoha made it clear that the resumption of school activities is one of the nation's priorities, now that the first (and hopefully only) peak of the pandemic has been reached.
"We are observing the curve and if it reaches an average of 5% in the next three weeks - said the Minister - we can sit down and take difficult but indispensable decisions by common agreement. We must get our children back to school. We want to see if we can reopen first under what conditions".
At the same time, Magoha urged schools to be prepared for this eventuality, criticizing the secondary schools in the country for not urging the resumption and not taking advantage of the closure and funds received to secure the buildings.
He also revealed to the media that he was working in tandem with Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i to stem corruption that could disperse public resources allocated to the reopening of schools. For example, he advised Educational Directors to use unemployed young people who fall under the government's livelihood program to do public service work.
"We are creating a system whereby each public secondary school will receive between 50 and 100 desks - admitted Magoha - However, we are about to implement this system with the help of the Ministry of the Interior to ensure that public money is not lost and that public money is actively involved in each county".