• National examinations for primary and secondary schools will not be done this year.
• Of those with children of schoolgoing age, only about half are able to access educational content through any electronic device.
A majority of low-income earners in Nairobi with children at home say feeding them is their greatest challenge.
But the children will stay home longer as Education CS George Magoha on Tuesday declared the 2020 academic year null and void.
A survey report by TIFA released on Wednesday indicates that 67 per cent of those interviewed say feeding children at home during the Covid-19 pandemic is their greatest challenge.
Some 579 respondents (Male - 306, Female - 273) mainly from Huruma, Kibera, Mathare, Korogocho, Mukuru Kwa Njenga and Kawangware were interviewed with a margin of error of +/- 4.1 per cent for the total sample.
Other challenges include failure to concentrate on their studies and difficulty preventing them from social mixing and possibly contracting the virus.
More than three-quarters of the population reported the presence of school-going children in their households.
Of those with children of school-going age, only about half are able to access educational content through any electronic device.
“Given this worrying reality for families in Nairobi, it may be assumed that the level of such access to educational content is generally much lower in most rural areas,” the research states.
On the value of educational content children are able to access at home through any type of technology, more than half of the population considered it as either very or somewhat useful.
However, more than a third held a negative opinion on the usefulness of the educational content.
“Given that the schools will remain closed until next year, it is unclear how much attention children who can access it will continue to give to such content.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered schools closed on March 15 soon after the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in the country.
They will not reopen until 2021 due to fears of Covid-19 infections which are rising exponentially.
Magoha said it will not be practical or safe to reopen schools because the peak period for the virus infections is just starting.
He said this academic year is lost, meaning all learners will be required to repeat their current classes when schools re-open next year. He did not provide the exact dates.
Consequently, he said, national examinations for primary and secondary schools will not be done this year.
Edited by R.Wamochie