All set for schools opening meeting

Whether to open schools and colleges or not will be the main question during a major education stakeholders meeting chaired by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha tomorrow.

Also in focus will be whether the Ministry of Education has instituted enough measures to prepare for schools opening, even if the resumption date remains next year.

Some of the stakeholders have faulted the ministry officials for concentrating their energies in inspections in middle-level colleges and universities while ignoring basic education institutions.

The Sunday Standard has established that with the coronavirus infections coming down, some of the education stakeholders will push for a partial reopening of schools to avoid loss of an entire academic year.

Parents and headteachers who spoke with the Sunday Standard said it was still possible to have the 1.8 million KCPE and KCSE candidates to recover lost time and prepare for national examinations early next year.

In their last meeting held on July 7, the stakeholders resolved to reopen all basic education learning institutions in January 2021.

This effectively meant that this year’s KCPE and KCSE national examinations were suspended to next year, dealing a major blow to the candidates.

The stakeholders also agreed that reopening of TVETs and universities for face-to-face learning be based on approved compliance with the Ministry of Health Covid-19 protocols.

Barely two months after they declared 2020 a lost academic year and suspended national examinations due to the adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the team meets again tomorrow to review the resumption of learning measures.

“Following the presidential directive on the convening of the National Consultative Conference to chart post-Covid-19 future, the stakeholders need to deliberate and give their input,” Magoha said.

He has called the meeting at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development against the backdrop of split opinion on how resumption of learning should be managed.

Representatives of primary and secondary school heads, universities, and middle-level colleges, religious leaders, private school managers, parents’ associations, Teachers Service Commission, Ministry of Health, and Kenya National Examination Council are expected at the meeting.