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ALL EARS TRAINED TOWARDS PRESIDENT UHURU KENYATTA’S SPEECH TODAY AS CS MAGOHA REMAINS TIGHT-LIPPED ON SCHOOLS’ REOPENING; EDUCATION BREAKING NEWS
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The nation has all its eyes and ears trained towards what direction the president will give concerning the reopening of schools in his state of the nation speech expected today.
This follows professor Magoha’s words yesterday that president Uhuru Kenyatta would issue instructions on when the schools will be reopened after getting abruptly closed back in March to control the spread of Covid 19 in the country.
The cabinet secretary for education, Magoha remained tight-lipped on when the students are likely to go back to school, opting to hint that the decision made will be purely based on the recommendations of the Covid 19 National Education Response Committee.
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MAGOHA SCORNED AS HIS SLUM GIRLS GET PREGNANT
Magoha went further assuring the nation that the government in collaboration with development partners is establishing mitigation measures in all learning institutions to cushion them from any spread of the deadly virus.
He clearly said that his ministry was not in any hurry to reopen the schools because the new spread of Covid 19 cases was on the upward trend in the country, casting fears as to whether the nation was fully prepared to handle the virus. “The pandemic is still spiking. Nobody has reopened schools when the disease is still spiking. South Korea and Israel did everything right, reopened schools, and were forced to close when the disease started killing students”, Magoha said.
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Levels of preparedness of all education stakeholders
Magoha further announced that his ministry will review the report presented to the president to be in an informed position of advising the country on the direction to be taken regarding this year’s already affected academic calendar. He quipped that most of the recommendations touch on the degrees of preparedness that every education stakeholder starting from the ECD centers, primary and secondary schools, teacher training colleges, other tertiary institutions, and Universities will have to adopt.
Schools and universities as quarantine and isolation centers
He said that the decision made will purely be informed by the data and evidence provided by the sister ministry of health led by cabinet secretary- Mutahi Kagwe. This he said was necessary bearing in mind that a total of 351 public schools are in utilization as quarantine centers while some universities are covid 19 isolation centers.
Parents shunning responsibility
Professor Magoha strongly advised the parents to take complete charge of their children during this covid19 period. He complained that some parents had neglected their children exposing them to a lot of trouble.
“On a sad note, the ministry has noted that some parents, guardians, and caregivers are not providing sufficient care to their children while at home. For instance, we have received reports that some form one girls have become pregnant since the schools were closed in March 2020”, Magoha lamented.
Girls on government scholarship pregnant
He brought to the fore that some of the adversely affected school-going girls were on a four- year scholarship plan by the government and its partners. He also informed the parents to take caution of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations(DCI) warning of internet child abusers who have commenced enticing children into myriad cyberspace offenses after invading their online learning platforms.
“The ministry wishes to urge parents, guardians, and caregivers to firmly take charge of the custody of their children while at home to protect them from sexual and drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, female genital cutting, and child labor,” Magoha said.
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