Makueni county has raised concerns over the scarcity of resources to implement anti-coronavirus protocols in preschools when they reopen.
On Saturday, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the Education ministry to prepare for a gradual reopening of schools beginning in September.
The World Health Organization provides basic safety measures that institutions should abide by when reopening to avert infection by the coronavirus.
They include the provision of handwashing equipment, soap, hand sanitiser, disinfectants and face masks and reorganisation of seating arrangement.
Governor Kivutha Kibwana said some 41,645 children in 1,418 ECDE centres were affected when schools closed on March 15.
The county had a budget of Sh114,642,570 for ECDE projects and programmes. Sh20 million was for the feeding programme, he said.
“Budget allocation for ECDE programmes depends on the allocation we get from the national government. I am not sure if we will increase the allocation because there are also other sectors that depend on the total budget we get from the national government,” Kibwana said.
Kibwana said that the need to expand the structures to ensure social distancing will pose a big challenge to the department.
Nicholas Maitha, chairman of the Education committee in the Makueni county assembly, said there was a need for the department to expand structures in ECDE centres.
Maitha said he will raise the issue in the committee since they were yet to finalise the 2020-2021 budget.
“We will discuss it to see what the department is doing because these are our children and we need to ensure their safety when the schools reopen,” Maitha told the Star.
Governor Kibwana said his administration has laid a firm foundation on early childhood education.
“This is because we have prioritised the capacity building of teachers for better curriculum delivery and we take care of the children’s welfare,” he said.
His administration has also invested in infrastructure and coordination of the teaching and learning process through ECDE coordinators at the ward level.
“We have employed 939 ECDE teachers to support those employed by the community. This indicates that investing in ECDE creates job opportunities,” Kibwana said.
(edited by o. owino)
