A section of experts have faulted Education CS George Magoha's decision to cancel the 2020 education calendar and issued him three alternatives to the closure of schools and candidates sitting KCSE and KCPE exams.
Among the proposals is a rallying call to Magoha to shelve the repetition of classes and have students move to the next classes.
The syllabus that was to be covered in the previous class would then be covered together with the next class' syllabus to recover the lost period of education during the lockdown period.
"All students must be allowed to move to the next class. Teachers must then use recovery methods to ensure that learning losses are minimised," Mutheu Kasanga detailed in an interview with the Standard.
They also urged Magoha to recall students for the resumption of classes in September other than in 2021, arguing that KCPE & KCSE candidates be prioritised and allowed to sit the national exams to reduce congestion in 2021.
The third proposal is to facilitate e-learning by equipping students with tablets and laptops. This reviving questions on the government's Ksh 24.6 billion laptop project that collapsed.
Teachers lacking ICT skills and underdevelopment of schools were cited as major reasons for the failure of the project.
In as much as the experts supported Magoha's analysis on social distancing being a huge task to accomplish in schools, they did not offer an alternative to the issue.
While extending the period of school closure on Tuesday, July 7, Magoha detailed that schools should only resume if cases reduce consistently for 14 days at a time when social and physical distancing was the most critical factor in ensuring the safety of learners.
Kenya's Coronavirus cases has witnessed an upsurge in daily fatalities and positive cases recorded. As of Monday, July 13, Kenya hadrhad 10,294 positive cases, 197 fatalities and 2,946 recoveries.
