NAIROBI, Kenya June 6 – Schools in Kenya will re-open at the beginning of September after closing for five months due to COVID-19.
On Saturday, President Uhuru Kenyatta said he expects progressive normalcy to resume in the education sector by September 1 and has directed the Education Ministry to consult with the Health experts so as to come up with a new calendar by mid-August.
“Following stakeholder’s consultations in the education sector – the Ministry of Education jointly with the Ministry of Health will issue and publicize guidelines on a gradual and progressive return to normalcy in the education sector by the Third Term, from 1st September 2020,” the president said in an address from State House.
“I have applied my mind to the different scenarios presented by our experts. And I have reconciled myself to the fact that to ‘open’ or not to ‘open’ is not a dilemma between a right and a wrong. It is a dilemma between two rights,” he added.
The president’s instructions come a day after Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said the Ministry would not rush to re-open schools at a time when the coronavirus is still out of control.
“The pandemic is still spiking. Nobody has re-opened schools when the disease is still spiking. South Korea and Israel did everything right, re-opened schools and were forced to close when the disease started killing students,” Magoha said.
In March, the government closed all schools in a bid to avert the unrestrained spread of COVID-19.
Kenya has so far reported 126 more cases of the coronavirus, to bring the national tally to 2,600, including 83 fatalities.
