Schools reopening depends on Covid-19 status - Magoha

Education stakeholders met on Friday to brainstorm about the reopening of learning institutions in September. 

But Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha stressed that the reopening will largely be dictated by the prevailing Covid-19 status, and that it would be impossible to continue with the plan if cases will still be high.

He added that they will strongly rely on the advice of the Health ministry on reopening of the institutions.

“As a physician, I will tell you according to my training, we should open after we have reached the peak and stabilised and started coming down for 14 days continuously,” he said. "There is no country in the world that has dared to reopen when the Covid-19 infections were still rising.”

The CS said achieving physical and social distancing in the institutions remains the elephant in the room in ongoing consultations and various options have been considered, without a solid strategy yet.

“The unfortunate thing is Covid-19 is still increasing since March 15 when all education institutions were closed. But government is going to work as if we are going to open on September 1,” he stated.

However, Technical and Vocational Training Education Institutions (TVETs) stand a higher chance of reopening in shifts as opposed to primary and secondary schools, the CS said, citing infrastructural challenges and the congestion problem in the later.

“The TVET institutions as we have looked at them have a much better chance of survival in terms of getting social distancing. Like universities, they offer various courses and can adjust their programmes and open in shifts much more easily than the primary and secondary schools,” he said at the Kisumu National Polytechnic where he met TVET principals from the Western region.

“It’s easier said in TVETs and universities because they have the capacity to decide which aspects to open so that they can achieve social distancing. but how do you do that in primary school?” he posed at a press briefing following the meeting.

Mask production was no longer a headache according to the CS, as there was assurance from Principal Secretary in charge of TVETs Dr Julius Juan that the institutions can make their own.

The CS spoke amid concern from parents and stakeholders on plans to reopen learning institutions in September, citing unpreparedness.

On Wednesday, the CS said the Ministry of Health had advised an arrangement whereby each classroom could have a maximum of 15- 20 learners, suggesting erecting tents to accommodate the learners in view of infrastructural challenges in most schools.

But school heads who spoke to Nation termed the plan not practicable given the congestion in a majority of schools, teacher shortage and infrastructure pressure. It would be worse taking care of boarding learners.

In preprimary, primary and secondary schools, the CS revealed yesterday that the government has toyed with various ideas to ensure safety of learners, including increasing learning facilities, which he termed unreasonable.

“Coming to the elephant in the room, in preprimary primary and secondary, social distance is a major challenge in capital letters, but it should not stop us from preparing for reopening in September. The reason being maybe by that time something may happen and the disease may be under control,” the CS said.

“It will be most unreasonable to expect government to double or triple the facilities of learning institutions because it has taken years to build what is there,” the CS stated.

The government has also toyed with the idea of readmitting the learners in shifts, which again the CS said was only found feasible only for Grade One to Four. “All the others it is not possible,” he said.

The other consideration was to admit only half of the learners back to school, which raised questions on what criteria would be used to do so and was also found to be unconstitutional. “First, it will not achieve social distancing and secondly, how do you select who will stay home and those to come to school?” the CS posed.

The consideration of overhauling the school learning calendar has also come up, but according to the CS, was also not practical because of the East African Community protocols.

“We are senior members of the EAC and it would mean the President will have to consult with the others and if they say no then it is not something that we should even waste our time on,” he stated.

TVETs will, however, only be reopened after being certified for Covid-19 preparedness by government approved physicians.

The CS indicated that he was working on the assumption that a majority of TVET students are day scholars which would be an advantage.

“The challenge would be in boarding facilities in terms of bed capacity in cubicles and whether to have double deckers or single beds and how many per room,” he said.

In terms of teachers, Prof Magoha said the government has budgeted for an additional 10,000 interns and 5,000 permanent teachers and will continue to address the shortage in schools.

“Don’t you think it’s better to have those children in school rather than out of school as we continue looking for teachers as we move along or do you want us to wait until we get teachers in about five years,” he posed.

“The TSC budget is Sh266 billion, the single most significant part of the education budget, bigger than the Ministry of Education,” he stated.

On the examination calendar, the CS said TVETS could allow the examination classes that were disrupted to resume after inspection by the PS to ensure compliance with Covid-19 requirements.

“The class can be allowed to come in and do their exams and get out. But as far as the rest of the calendar is concerned, we would want to interrogate precisely what plan Dr Juan has put in place so that he does not put to risk the health of our children, because this is a health problem, it is not an education problem,” he stated.

Dr Juan said TVET institutions would play a crucial role in the ongoing fight against Covid-19 if reopened as many are producing items critical in the fight.

“A lot of our TVET institutions are already producing masks. Eldoret polytechnic donated about 240 medical beds to Uasin Gusu county government and Kisumu polytechnic is producing solar supported handwashing machines which will go a long way to support the fight,” he stated, urging SMEs in the regions to partner with them to empower the youth and for economic development.

Prof Magoha also dismissed calls by the Kenya National Union Teachers to scrap the teachers’ delocalisation policy so that teachers return to their home counties in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, terming it petty politics.

“I have practiced medicine for many years and I have never seen anything like Covid-19. It is a stranger to all of us. It is not an opportunity for anybody to bring petty politics into the process…we don’t know the behavior of this disease…and frankly I fail to understand why anyone would make such a suggestion,” he stated.

“When you listen to some of these arguments, they don’t deserve any of my attention at all. Things have changed but whatever we do the constant remains our learner and their teachers. So let’s leave politics out of this, this is a very serious matter,” he said.