NEW SCHOOL CALENDAR, REOPENING DATES OUT TODAY; EDUCATION NEWS
CS Education Professor George Magoha is expected to announce the new school calendar and term dates for the year 2020 on Tuesday, July 7, 2020, at the KICD offices as from 9.30 a.m.
This is after the President yesterday directed him to release the new school calendar in less than 24 hours.
Information from the education ministry to the media shows that the stakeholders have reached a resolution on the next course of action. Therefore, the CS shall announce the schools’ reopening plan, dates, and new school calendar for all institutions as directed by President Uhuru on Monday, July 6, 2020.
“Education CS George Magoha will announce the schedule for reopening of learning institutions tomorrow at 9.30 at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, KICD,” reads the note from the Ministry.
Beating the deadline
Sources within the ministry also indicated that while the President was delivering his speech on the state of the covid-19 pandemic, the CS was holed up in a meeting with representatives from the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association, KESSHA, and the Kenya Primary School Heads Association, KEPSHA to discuss on the way forward.
The CS will hence make the announcement on the given deadline; Tuesday, July 7, 2020.
EASED TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
The President was expected to give the final remarks about schools’ reopening on Monday after a team proposed that schools remain closed until virus infections reduce.
He however threw the ball at CS Magoha’s court and now the Professor has to come up with a practical reopening formula.
The President proceeded to ease travel restrictions that had been put into place to curb the spread of the virus on grounds that most counties have met some reasonable level of preparedness to deal with the virus infections likely to crop up.
Kenyans can now move into and out of Nairobi, Mombasa, and Mandera counties which had been previously locked.
Places of worship have also been reopened but only 100 congregants are allowed at a time. Children aged 13 and below and the elderly who have already clocked 58 are not allowed to attend church services.
SCHOOLS’ REOPENING CONDITIONS
From Magoha’s recent clues, it seems that tertiary-level learning institutions are likely to reopen ahead of primary and secondary schools.
Some of the reopening conditions set by the education ministry include the provision of clean running water, thermo guns for measuring temperatures, and reusable masks.
The CS also announced that all teachers will have to undergo mandatory tests for the novel coronavirus before resuming duty.
