School Reopening: Church to Play Critical Role in New Plans

The government has roped in churches to offer psycho-social support to students after schools reopen on Monday, January 4.

Churches will deploy clergymen to schools across the country to offer psychological, emotional and spiritual support for learners and teachers as part of the plan.

The Ministry of Education and churches are finalising a plan that is part of the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) 10-year vision dubbed as Wholesome Ministry for a Wholesome Nation that runs from 2018 to 2028.

Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit speaking at a past event.

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ACK Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit noted that students are bound to be affected by the prolonged stay at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The learners have stayed away from schools for long and when they open, there is a need to offer them psycho-social support to ensure their learning progresses on well," he explained.

Under the program, ACK is set to distribute over four-million copies of educational materials to schools.

Sapit was speaking as he addressed hundreds of congregants at the official opening of ACK’s St. Peter Cathedral, an event also attended by Deputy President William Ruto.

This comes after Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion directed all schools to ensure a gender desk is set up ahead of a planned reopening back in September. 

Sossion urged the Ministry of Education and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to adopt a gender desk in schools to ensure every learner returns to school.

The country has recorded an alarming number of teenage pregnancies that has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday also instructed the Interior Ministry, through all Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs, to ensure that all students report back to school at the beginning of next year.

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha at a school in Nyeri on October 28, 2020.

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