Learners to remains at home until 2021, Longest School Holiday in Kenya Over Covironavirus

The Ministry of Education in Kenya has announced that primary and secondary schools will be reopened in 2021.

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha made the announcement on Tuesday saying due to the ever increasing number of Covid-19 infections schools cannot be opened at the moment.

“Based on this disturbing trend, stakeholders have shelved an initial proposal to reopen basic education learning institutions in September for Standard Eight and Form Four candidate classes,” Magoha said on Tuesday.

“Faced with this uncertain environment, the stakeholders have resolved to reopen all basic education learning institutions in January 2021. This is based on the assumption that the infection curve will have flattened by December, 2020,” Magoha further said.

Prof Magoha’s announcement comes just a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the Ministry of Education and the concerned stakeholders to announce the date of resumption of the 2020 academic year for basic and tertiary education.

The president have given the ministry until today (Tuesday) notify Kenyans on the resumption of the 2020 schools calendar.

NATIONAL EXAMS

All learners from grade one to four, standard five to seven and form one to three 2020, will remain in the current classes in 2021.

As a result, the CS said there will be no Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations this year.

The 2020 standard eight and form four cohorts will sit for their examinations later in the year of 2021.

“Should the situation change at any stage, then this committee that is behind me will have an opportunity to look at the situation again and see whether this can be brought forward,” he added.

The Education CS further said that the decisions made by his ministry applies to all learners, including those in schools offering international curriculum.

“To ensure learners are engaged the ministry of education will enhance remote learning, online for instance e-learning and explore other innovative approaches to promote equity,” Prof Magoha explained.

Magoha said this year’s school calendar will be considered lost due to Covid-19.

However, Teacher training colleges and TVET’s will be allowed to reopen in September subject to adherence to Covid-19 protocols.

Credit: nairobinews