Schools may not reopen on Monday after high court declared mission impossible, issued fresh order; Education Breaking News
Court Blocks Schools’ Reopening, Issues Fresh Order; Education Breaking News
Live updates on schools’ reopening hitting our media house now indicate that schools might not reopen on Monday September 12, 2020 as earlier planned.
Reason? A Kisii based high court has issued fresh demands that may make reopening schools soon impossible.
According to the latest Court ruling, schools can only reopen after all Covid-19 protocols are adhered to.
This ruling follows another directive given by another court yesterday directive education stakeholders to convene an urgent meeting within three days to respond to a petition filed bordering on schools’ reopening.
These court orders are a clear indication of the low levels of preparedness among parents for the upcoming schools reopening.
After the CS Education professor George Magoha announced that schools will reopen on Monday to candidates and grade four learners, there arose several complaints about the limited timelines issued.
The majority of the parents feel that opening schools on Monday is a form of ambush since some Kenyans lost their jobs during the pandemic.
They thus want the government to help them shoulder some responsibilities including payment of fees and acquiring face masks for all learners.
While responding to the complaints raised by the parents, CS Magoha noted that no child will be sent home to collect fee or masks.
If a child turns up for learning without a mask, it is upon the schools to ensure that they acquire one for them.
The CS also called upon school management boards to rally for donor funds to help set up the necessary infrastructure for reopening.
The CS admitted that the government does not have enough funds to facilitate the implementation of the social distancing rule.
Another elephant in the room is the closure of approximately 196 private schools, leaving over 54, 000 learners stranded.
This means that parents now have to try and find admission elsewhere in less than five days.
Teachers have already complied with the TSC directive, reporting to school two weeks earlier to prepare the ground for a soft landing once learners report back.
However, it is rather unfortunate that the tutors have nothing to do other than Manning the schools since they cannot prepare official documents such as the timetable, lesson plans and schemes of work without an official school calendar and the actual number of learners.
