Why we’re begging for Covid support from well-wishers

Although the Ministry of Education guidelines for reopening required that head teachers be in school throughout, I can report here that Bensouda has never come back  since that Monday she chaired a staff meeting and disappeared.

She left me in charge of the school,  but she has not made my life easy. First, she has put Kuya and I on a collision path as she issues some instructions through  him.

That is not all, Bensouda has designed some tricks to ensure that I am in school throughout the day. Like calling another teacher then demanding that I speak to her through the tutor’s phone or asking me to take a photo of a document in her office and send it to her urgently.

She is lucky that I was tired of staying at home for so long. Within three days of teachers reporting back, under my great stewardship, we had come up with creative plans of how we will implement the Ministry of Health guidelines for safe reopening of schools.

Hand washing stations

We had agreed on where the hand washing stations would be placed. We were clear on how and who would be replenishing water in the stations.

We had agreed that sanitisers would be placed in every classroom, and we had already appointed a temperature prefect, who would be taking  temperature readings for everyone.
What we did not have were sanitisers, a temperature gun, hand washing stations, water and soap.

We were just waiting for the government to provide the  items as Bensouda had advised. Once we were done with the theoretical plans, we had nothing else to do.

I did not have any good reason to keep the teachers in schools, and  so once they arrived and signed the attendance book every morning, I would let them go home despite Bensouda insisting that they stay. How could everyone stay in school when  lunch was not being provided?

We were still in this mood of wait and see when the HM called me last Tuesday. “Start preparing for admission of Class 8 and Grade 4 students from Monday,” she said, and sent me on WhatsApp a list of expectations.

No sooner had I finished reading than the ministry announced the partial reopening. Even with scanty information, I called an emergency staff meeting on Wednesday morning to start planning for the reopening. In attendance was Kuya, Mrs Atika, Sella, Mary and Alex.
I briefed the teachers on the requirements for re-admitting students even though Kuya kept disrupting me.
We came up with three task forces. The first one, the Hygiene Taskforce chaired by Kuya had a clear mandate to ensure all hygiene standards are met. “We already discussed the hygiene measures,” Saphire said even before they could meet. “All we need is to be given what we asked for.”
“I know that Kuya,” I said. “But can you work on some local, creative ways even as we wait for the government.” “We were creative in our thinking,” he said. The second was the Student Taskforce to be chaired by Mrs Atika. Although she was heavily pregnant, Mrs Atika was the most active and vibrant teacher. And I must add that it seemed as though her pregnancy likes me for she was very supportive of everything I did. The role of the taskforce was to ensure that as many students as possible report back tomorrow.
I chaired the last taskforce, the academic committee. Together with Sella, we split the two classes into three streams each so as to meet the government’s 1.5 metre social distance requirement. That meant that we had to draw a new timetable as we now needed more teachers for these two classes.
Kuya was the first to reject the timetable. “I am not teaching candidates this year. Forget about me going to class.”
I tried to explain to him that every teacher will be teaching given that we had to split classes into three. “Nzomo and Lena are away, and we can’t count on Saphire,” I reminded him. “Mrs Atika is pregnant and is busy and happy at work, why are you excusing Lena and Nzomo? Mimba sio ugonjwa” he said. “And why are you excusing Saphire? What is your job as  the deputy if a teacher decides not to come to school?” I instructed Kuya to teach Grade 4, but he said he would teach Class Eight. “I have never understood that CBC thing,” he said.
In the meantime, Mrs Atika and her team were busy contacting Class 8  students asking them to report. “We expect at least eight students not to report back,” she told me. “Marriages, pregnancies, and boda boda business are the main causes of dropping out.” .
As at yesterday, the Hygiene Taskforce did not have anything they can work with yet the government expects us to be ready with the hygiene equipment tomorrow. Although the ministry says it will provide money to schools to buy Personal Protective Equipment, going by past experience, this may happen very late, if it will happen at all. Therefore, allow me, on behalf of Mwisho wa Lami Primary School to beg — if you can or know of any organisation that can donate to us thermometer guns, sanitisers, masks, hand wishing equipment and soap, please come to our aid so we can safely reopen the school tomorrow, as the government has directed, without any facilitation. You can reach out to me on the email below.
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