Head teachers have identified day schools as the weak link in making learning centres safe in the Covid-19 war ahead of January reopening.
Interviews with school heads by the Star revealed that both students and staff members are exposed to the virus due to their everyday movement in and out of the institutions.
Day secondary account for the bulk of the 3.6 million learners in high schools and are responsible for about 70 per cent of the population in the institutions.
This means about 2.1 million learners in secondary schools are day scholars.
In primary schools, the number is higher, with day schools accounting for at least 90 per cent of the learners.
Indimuli Kahi, the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman, said unlike boarding schools, the nature of day schools means that learners get to interact with a wider scope of people beyond the learning institutions.
He said without an elaborate transport system, the movement of students to and from school might lead to increased infections.
“Unlike boarding schools, the movement of learners in day schools cannot be limited. Most of these institutions do not have elaborate logistics and each student finds his or her way to school each morning and after classes," Kahi said.
In urban areas, most students rely on public transport, while those in semi-urbans go for boda bodas and bicycles.
In rural areas, the students largely walk to and from school.
The principals seek autonomy to make decisions related to the pandemic, rather than a top-down centralised approach that will constrain them.
Among the recommendations school heads seek is for the state to provide more training for teachers as well as take into account that teachers and principals are managing multiple roles - as educators and parents.
"The Covid-19 pandemic is a dry run for future disruptions in education," Kahi said.
"This expectation should motivate us to prepare for the next curveball that life might throw at us."
Kahi also wants school heads to get additional support to handle some of the technical challenges of the job.
"Principals' duties will multiply and magnify when schools reopen. We will need to focus on instruction, particularly as a number of students are expected to lose ground academically because of the in-person shutdowns.”
Edited by A.N
