Students in five counties to be assessed on Covid-19 effects

A team of local researchers will be conducting a study to assess the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on mental health of primary and secondary school children in Kenya.

The research will be conducted in five counties of Kajiado, Migori, Nairobi, Mombasa and Elgeyo Marakwet.

The team led by Prof Micah Chepchieng from Egerton University comprises of 10 researchers from both private and public universities, the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO, the Education ministry and the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development.

According to the researchers, Elgeyo Marakwet will act as a control county in the study because it has recorded very low positivity rates for a period of time.

The Sh18 million project funded by the National Research Fund brings together renown researchers including Prof Peter Ngure from St Paul’s University.

Other universities taking part in the study include Moi University, Chuka University, Africa Nazarene University and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology.

“We realise that most interventions and studies conducted on Covid-19 tend to focus so much on the epidemiology of the disease and the interventions related to the physiological dimensions.

"However, we are keen on the mental and psychosocial wellbeing of the learner,” Grace Ngugi said on Monday.

Ngugi is the Deputy Director Department of Special Programmes at KICD and part of the research team.

“We don’t know how long Covid-19 is going to live with us but we are hoping that the kind of research that we are going to undertake will help us come up with interventions to support the children.

"They will help children to continue growing, and developing as expected and also to continue learning,” Ngugi added.

The study will be undertaken in 12 primary schools, 12 secondary schools  as well as seven schools with learners with special needs in the spirit of leaving no learner behind.

The key objectives will be to determine the level of knowledge, attitude, behaviour and practice of Covid-19 among primary and secondary school learners in selected counties.

It will provide mental health and psychosocial interventions to learners who meet intervention threshold.

The team will also collect data and be able to identify learners who could be exhibiting some level of psychosocial problems and mental health related to Covid-19.

Those who meet the threshold will be taken through an intervention strategy that the research team is developing.

“We shall evaluate the efficacy of mental health and psychosocial interventions in mitigating Covid-19 related effects.  We will not just provide the interventions but we will be keen to follow very closely,” she said.

During the study period, the team of experts will conduct capacity building for teachers who can handle mental health and psychosocial effects related to Covid-19 among the learners.

“Teachers spent a lot of time with our children and they are the ones we are targeting to actually train so that they can provide these interventions,” Ngugi added.

The research findings are expected to be out before the lapse of one year.

“The pandemic has indeed shown us, and in the strongest way possible, that investing in research is not just the right thing to do but the smart thing to do.

"There’s therefore no tradeoff between investing in research and our economy,” University Education PS Simon Nabukwesi said.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)