EDUCATION MINISTRY TO OFFER GUIDELINES ON GRADUAL AND PROGRESSIVE RESTORATION OF NORMALCY IN SCHOOLS BY THIRD TERM SOON
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health officials are set to offer guidelines on the gradual reopening of schools by the third term this year.
The guidelines will be publicized soon ahead of the official schools’ reopening date which has been set on September 1, 2020.
This information was made public yesterday via the ministry’s twitter handle @ EduMinKenya on Saturday after President Uhuru Kenyatta’s speech.
“Gradual reopening of schools from September 1, 2020, @EduMinKenya & @MOHKenya to issue and publicize guidelines on a gradual and progressive restoration of normalcy in schools by 3rd term,” tweeted KICD.
NEW TERM DATES AND ACADEMIC CALENDAR
Besides schools’ reopening guidelines, the education ministry shall also announce new term dates for the 2020/2021 academic year by mid-August this year.
This, therefore, means that the initial academic calendar of the year 2020 will be affected.
However, Kenyans who responded to the tweet seemed to have different views about schools’ reopening. While some felt that the ministry should go on with the plan of reopening schools on September 1, 2020, some were of the idea that schools close for the whole academic year and studies resume in January 2021.
“I would be of the idea the schools close for the whole academic year, after all they will all repeat as we will have lost learning time especially in primary and secondary schools. My take,” tweeted Becky.
Others felt that school reopening should be subject to the number of coronavirus positive cases reported.
Earlier, the ministry had issued term dates for the year 2020 as follows
TERM ONE 2020 ACADEMIC CALENDAR
The official opening dates for all secondary and primary schools for term one were scheduled on Monday, January 6 2020.
According to the Ministry of Education, term 1 2020 would have ended on April 10 2020.
Mid-term (half term) breaks for schools had been scheduled to start on February 17 2020 and end on February 21 2020.
2020 TERM TWO SCHOOL CALENDAR AND IMPORTANT TERM DATES
According to the Ministry of Education, term two was to commence on May 4 2020 and end on August 7 2020.
The Midterm breaks for Term II 2020 had been scheduled for June 15 2020 to June 19 2020.
This means that the August Holiday was to last for three weeks only.
2020 TERM THREE SCHOOL CALENDAR AND IMPORTANT DATES
Term III 2020 was to begin on August 31 2020 and end on October 30 2020 for learners who will not be sitting for their KCPE or KCSE national exams.
2020 KCPE EXAM DATES
The 2020 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, KCPE exams had been scheduled to take place from Monday, November 2 2020 to Thursday November 5 2020.
2020 KCSE EXAM DATES
The 2020 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, KCSE exams had been set to take place between Friday, November 6 2020, and Monday November 30 2020.
SCHOOLS’ REOPENING GUIDELINES
In April, CS Magoha already hinted on some of the guidelines on schools’ reopening. The majority of them border on social distancing and sanitization.
BELOW ARE SOME OF THE GUIDELINES ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY AHEAD OF SCHOOLS’ REOPENING
Speaking in Kiambu while on an inspection tour at Ruiru Girls High School, CS Magoha noted that the reopening of schools will entirely depend on a paradigm shift in the general behavior and attitudes of Kenyans.
Besides, all schools must have enough flowing water and do away with six double-decker beds in dormitory cubicles.
According to CS Magoha, the above measures shall reduce infection rates and ensure learners’ safety in schools.
“If we are going to be bold enough to open schools, the public must agree to change their mindset and behave in a more civilized manner,” said the CS.
MoH Guidelines
Reopening of schools means that the public must adhere to all guidelines set by the Ministry of Health to reduce local transmissions.
The CS also held a different view from that of the World Health Organization, WHO that the coronavirus might graduate from being a pandemic into an endemic.
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