President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday, April 22, spoke on issues worrying parents after schools were shut down over the Covid-19 outbreak in Kenya.
The Head of State, while addressing journalists at State House, Nairobi, reiterated Education CS George Magoha's sentiments that KCPE and the KCSE examinations would go on as scheduled.
Kenyatta insisted that he was in discussions with various stakeholders on a strategy that would also ensure students resumed classes.
"Exams are still on as planned, but we still have to know how we shall approach this and we shall elaborate more when that time comes.
"We are still analysing the best way to assist our students. We will release a strategy in which our students will start going back to schools and the measures we shall implement because they (candidates) are the ones we are most concerned about," Kenyatta proclaimed.
He went on to affirm that the government would also set up a way to ensure the candidates recover the time they lost while at home.
On Monday, April 20, Magoha's announcement irked the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) boss Wilson Sossion after the CS indicated that he was still optimistic that everything would still run on schedule, given that a majority of students were still studying at home.
"We have done an assessment of e-learning even with respect to all across the world and it cannot work in third-world countries. Let us take for example the ordinary households in Kenya, both the middle class and low-class, do they have radios or TVs?
"Even if they have them, how can you ensure the connectivity of the 320,000 teachers with their learners? How can we ensure effective learning control and interaction across the network?" he posed.
Other than the resumption of school, another issue on the table would be the payment of fees. Different bodies aligned with the education sector asked for discussions to be held to deliberate on the issue as parents urged schools to reimburse some of the money paid before the outbreak of the disease.
The National Parents Association Vice-Chairperson Sarah Kithinji argued that schools closed almost a month earlier and some reprieve for parents was necessary.
"We have lost a month in which we had paid for everything including tuition. We have not engaged the Ministry of Education but I hope that when we do, they will agree to give a reprieve equivalent to the time that we lost," Kithinji stated.
Audio: Citizen TV
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