KMA Cautions Against Early School Reopening, Issues 3 Guidelines

Education CS George Magoha visiting a school in 2019.
Education CS George Magoha visiting a school in 2019.
The Standard

The Kenya Medical Association (KMA) on Sunday, September 27, cautioned the Education and Health Ministries against the planned October reopening of schools. 

The KMA chairman Andrew Were, speaking during a press conference emphasized that the government needed to prove that schools are safe for reopening.

KMA also asked the Government to provide evidence that the epidemiological pattern of the pandemic is well known before reopening.

An image of Andrew Were
The Kenya Medical Association Chairman Andrew Were posing for a photo.
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To reopen schools the government should justify that the risk of community transmission is eliminated or significantly reduced.

The government should also prove that the country is prepared to handle any potential surge in the transmission that might result from reopening.

Were asked the Education Ministry to use data to support their decision to reopen schools and warned against using students as guinea pigs.

"We need to get information from the community initiative whether community transmission has been eliminated completely so that we can allow our children to go back to school.

"We believe our children are the future of this country and they need to be protected. We need not to use them as guinea pigs by opening schools without adequate data to support that," stated Were.

He called upon the government to increase the Covid-19 isolation and treatment facilities in the country as learning is set to resume in October.

The KMA Chairman also wanted the government to provide masks for students especially pediatric ones for children in lower primary and nursery. 

KMA warned that the low Covid-19 cases in the country being reported are as a result of few tests being conducted, and not due to the flattening of the curve.

The Covid-19 Education Response Committee had settled on Monday, October 19, 2020, as the preferred school reopening date countrywide.

Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha, however, stated that the recommendation will be subject to further review and that only the President would announce the definitive reopening date. 

Education CS George Magoha speaking at the UoN graduation ceremony on September 25, 2020.
Education CS George Magoha speaking at the UoN graduation ceremony on September 25, 2020.
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