President Uhuru Kenyatta has addressed the nation 38 days after he eased most of the Covid-19 restrictions on September 27, 2020.
Uhuru stated that students who had resumed classes (Grade 4, Class 8 and Form Four) would continue learning but under heightened Covid-19 measures. He further directed that the rest of the students would resume learning in January 2021.
He was speaking during an address on Wednesday, November 4, 2020, after the Sixth Extraordinary Session of the National and County Governments Co-ordinating Summit.
President Kenyatta directed MPs to engage National Government Administration Officers, National Government Affirmative Action Fund, and Constituency Development Fund boards to make investments for additional handwashing points, masks for each child and ensure physical distancing in schools.
When schools reopen, Education CS George Magoha will have to contend with the reality that Kenyan schools are overcrowded.
The average number of the student population in Kenyan public primary and secondary schools is generally 40–59 students per class.
The social distancing rules will be hard to enforce in such an environment. In secondary schools, the crowding will extend to dining halls and dormitories where students are usually left to themselves.
A number of Kenya's 11,000 private schools have closed down due to the effects o Covid-19, while others have been repurposed into lodges, apartments and chicken coups.
Parents had called for the closure on learning institutions after the spike in the infection, with some learners and teachers contracting the virus.
They have also expressed unwillingness to send their children back to school with a second wave of Covid-19.
In his address, President Kenyatta noted that the Covid-19 positivity rate which was at 4% in September has shot up to 16%. In October the country had registered more than 15,000 new cases and approximately 300 deaths.
Uhuru recalled that he had warned the nation against backtracking on the gains, cautioning that the cases could spike if Kenyans did not continue to observe the mitigation measures.
The President stated that the government would double its efforts to enforce Covid-19 safety measures.
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