AfricaPress-Kenya: Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Wilson Sossion has addressed the issue of school reopening slated for May despite President Uhuru Kenyatta issuing indefinite curfew orders.
While appearing on Citizen TV on the morning of Monday, March 29, Sossion revealed that he hoped schools would reopen on May 10, 2021, as per the schedule developed by the Ministry of Education in late 2020.
The SG explained that it was prudent for the state to shorten the holiday of students to avoid exposing them to other toxic societal engagements.
“We are urging the government to restructure and ensure that schools are exempted from the measures within a short time. We hope by that time all teachers will have been vaccinated.
“We hope by May 9 all learners should be able to go back to school. Imagine a situation of another prolonged stay, we will not receive students but some form of other citizens,” argued Sossion.
Comparing the new closure with that of 2020 that began in March, the nominated MP further argued that students would engage in drug abuse if the new measures keep them out of class for longer.
He challenged the state to pursue ways in which as the country institutes lockdown to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus, students in all learning institutions get spared closures.
“Our prayer is that this time around, it should not be prolonged. The net effect of prolonged closure was so devastating and the damage to children outweighs the reasons for closure. We hope the suspension of schools and learning institutions is going to be very brief.
“We hope the government is going to reconsider and approach so that the calendar that had been designed towards the end of last year is not interrupted,” stated Sossion.
He argued that foreign countries had struck the balance and managed to maintain physical learning while ensuring the safety of learners.
“If we go further, we are going to compound the ailing of the education system and the suffering of children. The system has changed because children have come back with new challenges ranging from massive drug abuse to high numbers of pregnancies,” he continued.
According to the school calendar released by Education CS George Magoha, the third term for all students except Grade 4, Grade 8 and Form 4 was set to resume on Monday, May 10, 2021.
In his presidential address on Friday, March 26, Uhuru suspended all physical learning activities, save for those undertaking their KCSE exam, until further notice.
“In respect to education in Kenya there shall be an immediate suspension of all on-going physical learning in all our institutions including universities, tertiary and vocational colleges, other than for candidates sitting for the examinations and those in medical training institutions until otherwise notified,” Kenyatta said.
