By Lauryne Akoth
The head of state William Ruto has directed schools to remain closed until further notice.
The President made the announcement on Friday during the State of the Nation address held in State House.
He emphasized that the decision was taken due to the risks and uncertainties posed by the ongoing heavy rains across the country. These rains are projected to intensify in duration and intensity, potentially leading to the destruction of lives and property.
“The Ministry of Education is directed to postpone the dates of reopening of all schools in the country for the second term until further notice,” said Ruto.
Initially, schools were scheduled to reopen on April 29th but were postponed by the Ministry of Education due to floods. A new reopening date of May 6th, 2024, was set.
A circular was subsequently issued to regional, county, and sub-county education directors by the Ministry of Education on Thursday, May 2nd, outlining safety measures for learners and staff upon school resumption.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education Ezekie Machogu had however stated that affected schools would remain closed for the time being.
“In the meantime, the management of these schools should come up with strategies to recover lost time when learning resumes,” he said.
Concerns were raised about unsafe school infrastructure, particularly sanitation facilities, posing health risks such as waterborne diseases due to water source contamination.
School boards, headteachers, and principals were directed not to host students and staff in life-threatening buildings.
“In some cases, the school infrastructure may be unsafe for use by learners thereby affecting their readiness to resume learning, especially on sanitation facilities,” noted the CS.
“This poses a health risk due to contamination of water sources, which may lead to an outbreak of waterborne diseases. BOMS, headteachers, and principals are directed that students and staff should not be hosted in life-threatening buildings,” read the circular in part.
Furthermore, Education CS Ezekiel Machogu instructed all School Boards of Management to submit institution status reports, detailing damages from the rains and mitigation measures, to County Education Boards by May 8, 2024.
County Education Boards were tasked with assessing the situation and submitting reports to the CS by May 10th.