Reopening of schools; Education Ministry releases dates for assessing all schools

The Ministry of Education will embark on a countrywide exercise to assess schools ahead of reopening. The exercise that will kick off on August 23, 2020 will see a team of Ministry officials dispatched to all schools to check on level of preparedness.

“The Ministry of education intends to carry risk assessment for suitability and readiness to reopen institutions,” reads a circular by the Ministry’s Director General, Elyas Abdi.

Schools were closed in March when the first cases of covid-19 broke in the country. There has been pressure on the government, by international bodies and parents, to reopen schools.

Abdi says officials who will be visiting schools will focus on ‘space, safety, health of learners, teachers and non-teaching staff’.

Education Cabinet Secretary, George Magoha, has promised to reopen schools when rates of infections dip; and not necessarily in January, as earlier alluded.

Schools will have to meet the minimum reopening requirements before learners are allowed back. The guidelines, that were released by the Ministry in January, put a lot of emphasis on social distancing and sanitation as the key pillars in preventing of the deadly virus among learners and teachers.

Schools heads will be required to be present in schools when the officers visit.

“Schools will be required to avail required data and information as per the risk assessment checklist. The teams (officials from the Ministry) will visit both secondary and primary schools,” adds Abdi.

Read also; Assessment guidelines for schools.

SCHEDULE FOR SCHOOL VISITATIONS 

The officials from the Ministry’s head office have been divide into two groups of all teams. here is the visitation schedule;

TABLE 1: GROUP ONE VISITATION PROGRAMME.

DATES: 23/08/2020 TO 28/08/2020.

TABLE 2: GROUP TWO VISITATION PROGRAMME.

DATES:30/08/2020 TO 04/09/2020