• Kenya Private Schools Association chairperson says there is hope for schools as data show schoolchildren fall in the least susceptible category.
• Private schools say they will work with pediatric associations to make sure vulnerable learners are safe.
Image: FILE
Vulnerable children with underlying medical conditions could remain at home in September as schools reopen to protect them from the risk of infection.
The proposal is part of the recommendations by the Education Response Committee set up by Education CS George Magoha. The learners will include those with respiratory problems and underlying medical conditions such as diabetes and HIV-Aids.
The team instead suggested an elaborate remote learning system for the group.
However, Mutheu Kasanga, the Kenya Private Schools Association chairperson, said there is hope for schools as data show schoolchildren fall in the least susceptible category.
Mutheu said private institutions are in consultation with pediatric associations to make sure that even the most vulnerable children are safe.
“We are not expecting to see many kids display symptoms when we reopen but when they do that, we have protocols to ensure the kids are moved really fast to medical facilities,” he said.
The private sector has borne the brunt of the shutdown as it dominates early childhood education and development. Mutheu expressed concern that some of the institutions might not recover, hence having to close up shop.
Top on the list of challenges will be to ensure learners get to and from school safely. In the early childhood space where private schools take the lion’s share, a lot of teachers have not received a penny since March after their salaries were suspended in the wake of the crisis occasioned by the virus.
“Even if we have to reopen, we will have to finance these teachers somehow because they have not had any form of income for months and this is the biggest issue so far we are trying to deal with," Mutheu said.
Upon reopening, the institutions will be guided by a manual outlining protocol, particularly with regard to safety.
For schools that own school buses, the same protocol will be followed. They will also be restricted from hiring the buses out for other uses. They will be required to sanitise before, during and after ferrying the learners and ensure contact is minimised.
The elaborate transport system adopted by private institutions will give them leverage, according to Mutheu.
“Private schools in low-income places exclusively hire matatus or a bus that picks and drops the learners to school,” Mutheu said.
At the school level, one thermometer will be used for an average of 50 learners. And in dining halls, learners will eat in shifts, other options will be to serve meals in classes or outside.