Hope for secondary schools as sports resumption draws closer

Shimo la Tewa Secondary School in Mombasa will be the last stop for the Ministry of Education workshop for Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) officials as they continue to map out guidelines for the resumption of sports in schools.

The workshop, the fourth and last one in the series, starts Tuesday morning at Shimo la Tewa School and will bring together Nairobi and Coast regional secondary school sports officials according to KSSSA chairman Peter Orero.

The workshops which have brought together regional officials across the country started on October 5 to 7 in Kakamega County where Western Region Secondary Schools Sports Association officials and their Nyanza counterparts converged for three days to be taken through the protocols to be followed for games to resume.

The workshops which are also being attended by KSSSA top brass are a clear pointer that sports will soon be back in schools after they were abruptly stopped in March when the coronavirus pandemic struck.

Covered ground

The workshops continued in Embu last week where Eastern region and North Eastern region converged for three days to be taken though protocols by both Ministry of Health and Education officials.

The workshops in Eldoret saw Central Region and Rift Valley region officials taken through the process from October 9 to 11 paving way for the Coast event which starts on Tuesday.

Coast Secondary Schools Sports Association Chairman Juma Bora Tuesday said the venues for the workshop are ready with officials expected in Mombasa from Monday.

“The Ministry of Sports and Health officials have been running these workshops at the request of the Education ministry and I must say we have covered a lot of ground with regards to what schools will have to do before, during and after training,” said Orero.

According to Orero, the Education ministry will follow the Ministry of Sports guidelines on categorising the sports disciplines stressing that high risk sports such as rugby and swimming will still not be allowed in schools until they are cleared by the Health ministry.

“We have classified our games into high risk and low risk with athletics, lawn tennis, badminton, basketball, football, handball, netball, volleyball and hockey being low risk and will start immediately the protocols are approved by Education CS," revealed Orero.

Orero pointed out that once the protocols are approved by Education CS George Magoha they will trickle down to the counties, sub counties and then to schools for implementation.

Orero however says the budget lines for schools will now go up during games because of the increased personnel from the Ministry of Health who will have to be present.

This includes an official specifically in charge of sanitising balls and the number of balls to be used per match which will be between eight to 10 balls. All match venues will also be fumigated and players sanitised at all intervals.

Orero reiterated that school games form part of the curriculum and assured that they will resume once schools are reopened.

Orero, who is the Dagorretti High School principal and Kenya Basketball Federation treasurer, said school games and by large the co-curricular activities form an integral part of the learning process of a student adding that the careers of many renowned sports personalities in Kenya were shaped while in secondary school.