Dear Prof Magoha, please decide on school reopening

Dear Prof George Albert Omore Magoha, EBS, MBS, MBBS (Lagos), FRCS, FWACS, FICS, MCIS, FCS (ECSA), FKNAS FMCS (Urol).

When in 2005 you were appointed the University of Nairobi VC, I had never heard of you. But you went on to preside over one of the best stints the university has ever had. Rankings went up, strikes became a thing of the past, and you gave us one of the brightest students the university has ever produced — Babu Owino.

When in 2016 you were appointed the chairman of the Kenya National Examination Councils, I knew you, but just like many others, I was not sure what to expect.

But you did not disappoint,. You literally overhauled the examination system, dismantled cartels, and restored the credibility of our exams.

You may have turned the national examinations into a police operation, but you did something we are unable to do with Covid — you flattened the exams performance curve.

So, when in 2019 you were nominated the minister for Education, we all celebrated, knowing that once again the ministry would be steered by a performer since Dr Fred Matiang’i, aka Magufuli, had exited.

We cheered when you presented a 92-page CV to Parliament when another candidate had submitted a 1-page CV. We cheered more when you vetted Parliament for the role, instead of the House vetting you.

I felt proud when you told Parliament that you were your own man, had not applied for the job, and would not fear to make any tough decision or tell off the President on any matter. After all, you did not need the job, the country needed your services.

When Covid19 hit Kenya, and all schools were closed, we were not worried for we knew that in you,   the ministry of Education was in the safest pair of hands this country could get.

When in April you told off those who were calling for schools to reopen in May, telling them that the safety of our children was more important than anything else, I cheered you.

Strong language

Even when you used strong language, saying we would rather have our children alive at home that dead at school, I defended you, telling everyone that as an urologist, you were used to shooting from the hip.

Come May, when you said you could not tell when the schools would reopen, I was a little startled. But I remembered your multiple degrees in medicine, surgery, urology among others against my single P1 certificate from Kilimambogo TTC. What did I know about Covid? I continued defending you.

Then when you later said children across the country were learning on-line, I wondered whether you had ever visited Mwisho wa Lami, where only three homes have electricity, where there is only one laptop. I wondered whether anyone in the ministry had told you that the last time many children looked at a book was in March.

When in June you announced that schools would reopen in January next year, many criticised you, but I appreciated your decisiveness. You said schools could not open in September as that was when Covid cases were expected to peak.

Later on, you would talk about community education, saying teachers could teach in their neighbourhoods. Then you said that teachers; who cannot tell piriton from aspirin; and some who do not even know how to wear a mask, would conduct sensitisation on Covid. I got scared, wondering whether you may have assumed that all teachers had medical education history like you. I, however, still had faith in you.

But when you said that for schools to reopen, classrooms will not be allowed to accommodate more than 15 students, I was convinced you were from a different planet. In Mwisho wa Lami, and many other schools across the country, we pack over 60 learners in small, stuffy rooms.

In between this, you said many things, contradicted them, restated them, dismissed them and claimed you had been misquoted, then repeated the same things. You even said schools may not reopen in January. When two weeks ago you said only the President could reopen schools, I wondered what your job really was; or why then you were even speaking to us.

Flattened the curve

I was still processing this when you said Covid cases were now declining, that we had flattened the curve, and thus schools could reopen in September. Prof, September is just the day after tomorrow.

People need to prepare. Many private schools have been turned into other businesses. Tito’s Busy Bee’s classrooms are now chicken pens. They need at least three months to be turned back into a school.

As for us in public schools, our minds are set to go back to school in January. I was not surprised when you later said you had been misquoted, that what you meant was that the government was observing the flattening of the curve and could alter the initial January opening plans.

 I got confused and was tempted to criticise you when you added that cartels in the ministry were pushing you to reopen schools.

Dear Prof, a single word from you affects millions of students and thousands of teachers and lecturers countrywide. Please make up your mind on this at it affects our future.

Or if you don’t have your mindset on the matter, just keep quiet. And wait for the President to give you directives, then implement them!

Yours truly, Mwalimu Andrew Esq, GHC, CRE, Kisw, Insha.