Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has convened a consultative conference for stakeholders next week to deliberate on school reopening modalities.
The meeting will take place at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum and Development and will revisit the contentious topic on school reopening.
"Following the presidential directive on the convening of the national consultative conference to chart Kenya's post-Covid-19 future, the stakeholders in the sector need to deliberate and give their input on this critical issue," the invite letter by the CS reads.
In July, the Education ministry announced that schools will not reopen until next year.
Magoha, however, remarked that the decision is not cast on stone and could change depending on the virus trends.
In the last week, there has been increased lobbying propelled by private school owners, seeking that the government reconsiders reopening dates.
This follows a significant drop in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases. With an average of about 150 cases weekly.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to issue new guidelines by the end of this month as part of reopening the economy that has slowed down since March.
On August 25, a parent filed a petition in court seeking to compel the Education CS to reopen learning institutions.
Schools in Kenya were closed in March when the first case of coronavirus was confirmed.
Kenya Private Schools Association chairperson Mutheu Kasanga on Friday said the association is against the decision to have candidates repeat a whole year.
“Since Independence, schools have never experienced such disruption, the much disruption has been on regional caused by floods and clashes among others. Reopening will be much harder than closing down,” Kasanga said.
The association says it will in the coming week engage the CS on the possibility of a phased reopening.
In their proposal, schools could consider Standard 8 and Form 4 candidates as the first lot to resume learning and prepare for their final exams.
Kasanga also questions what it will mean for private schools if public schools are not able to meet measures to contain the virus.
"Should we reopen and there is another wave of the virus then we would also want to know what that means for private schools that can meet the recommended guidelines," Kasanga said.
Edited by R.Wamochie
