University students are reporting back to their various campuses following a directive by the Ministry of Education to have normal classes resume as from October 5.
A number of learning institutions took to various forms of media to inform their students on the order asking them to resume classes, with final year students granted first priority.
At Pwani University, the university Vice-Chancellor Prof Mohamed Rajab confirmed that about 400 students resumed physical learning on Monday.
Kisii University on the other hand not only welcomed its final year students, but also announced that first year students were expected to report back.
"Our new first years will report physically on October 13. For the first years that have not finished their registration, they will have an opportunity to complete in person and then immediately engage in the blended (mix of physical and electronic) learning program," reads an excerpt from a notice issued by the university.
"For all students reporting to complete exams of the disrupted January-April and May-August please look keenly when your specific group is supposed to report and undertake their examinations," it further reads.
The Technical University of Mombasa (TUM), through its vice chancellor Prof Laila Abubakar revealed that it had already received 1,500 final year students since yesterday.
“We are bringing them in intervals of one month, after that we will bring third years and then the rest will follow depending on the situation," he detailed.
Other institutions registering high numbers of students who started a phased re-opening were Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Juja, Thika Technical Training Institute, Mount Kenya University, the Kenya Coast National Polytechnic and the Shanzu Teachers Training College.
Some of the measures adopted to mitigate any possible outbreak of the virus now that the students have reported back to their respective institutions include a reduced capacity in the hostels as well as a progressive reopening of the schools.
For instance, in Kisii University, all students will be required to fill out a Covid-19 contact registry form. This will capture vital data such as temperature, to be used incase any student test positives.
In further guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education, third-year students pursuing Diplomas in Teacher Education are also expected to report Monday; while those in the first and second year of study will report on October 19.
The third-year students will be in colleges for two weeks to complete their Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) assessments slated to run from October 13 to 15 and subsequently close on October 16.
