Many children will be saved from child labour, early marriages and hunger when schools reopen, rights lobbies have said.
The Ministry of Education on Tuesday announced that schools will reopen from October 12, starting with grade 4, class 8 and form 4 students.
Maniza Zaman, Unicef representative to Kenya, welcomed the phased reopening of schools .
“We know that the longer children are out of school, the greater the risk that the poorest among them will never return,” Zaman said.
She added that children out of school are also at risk of being sent off to work, married off too early, or suffer other risks that could curb their development and wellbeing.
According to Save the Children, the closure of schools in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted learning for over 17 million students and pupils.
Labour CS Simon Chelugui said that Child labour had ballooned in the country after schools were shut due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chelugui also noted a rise in street children in the months learning institutions remained shut.
The lobbies have urged parents to take children back to school as their classes reopen to mitigate the effects of Covid-19.
Unicef in a statement on Tuesday said the prolonged stay of children out of school could mean more children may drop out of the system. Others may face hunger and lack access to safe water and sanitation.
Further, the closure of schools exposes adolescent girls to a higher risk of sexual abuse, HIV and teenage pregnancy.
Before Covid-19, the drop-out rate for children at primary school level in Kenya was estimated at 21 per cent. Free school meals were provided to 1.6 million children in 2019.
“These are vulnerable children who rely on school meals for a reliable source of daily nutrition,” Unicef says.
Without going to school, 6 million children in rural areas and 1.4 million in urban areas have little access to safe water.
