•According to Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the schools listed need to be marked.
•The polling stations will be marked with strips and stickers to guide voters.
Image: CHARLENE MALWA
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha on Monday directed schools to release learners to pave way for the August 9 general elections.
“Schools and parents are advised to ensure that learners from all basic education institutions proceed on their final half-term effective Tuesday, August 2, and resume Thursday, August 11,” Magoha said.
There are teachers who act as polling clerks, returning officers, deputy presiding officers and presiding officers.
According to Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the schools listed need to be marked.
The polling stations will be marked with strips and stickers to guide voters.
Teachers, especially in boarding schools, will need ample time to remove students’ belongings from places which will be accessed by voters.
“We need to safeguard our learners’ books, bedding and other learning materials to ensure they are not tampered with,” a teacher from Kakamega told the Star.
IEBC is set to finish setting up poll materials on Monday at the main tallying centre.
The materials are then expected to be transported to respective county tallying centres starting Tuesday.
This, therefore, means learners should be out of school by the time materials get to the institutions.
IEBC said the selected tallying centres will be coordination points at the constituency and county levels.
However, the directive to close schools has elicited mixed reactions with parents decrying being ambushed.
For instance, boarding schools in the Western and Nyanza regions usually partner with long-distance travel providers to make early bookings for learners.
However, this directive will disorient the earlier plans.
“We were supposed to break on Thursday and we had already booked buses for our students. I don’t know what's going to happen because we can't release the students in batches,” a teacher said.
The administration of the school in Kakamega is now staring at phased closure which will mean students from nearer homes will be released, while the long-distance ones will have to wait.
“For us, in day schools we are still planning on how we will release the students officially tomorrow evening,” another teacher said.
The concerns come even as Grade 4,5 and 6 students had already started sitting a set of school-based assessments.
“We are not sure when our students will be back to school because now we will have to stop the exams and continue next time,” another teacher said.
Some parents whose schools had already promised to break on Monday for half term are now with their children.
The Ministry of Education's school calendar had previously directed that learners break on August 11 and resume after three days.
However, due to the election, the students will not be able to continue with their studies between August 1 and August 10.
According to a gazette notice from the IEBC, almost 250 schools will be used as tallying centres.
In the second schedule of county tallying centres, 15 out of the 47 counties will have the tallying centres in schools.
“The counties are Mombasa, Embu, Kiambu, Nakuru, Trans Nzoia, Kakamega, Tana River, Nyeri, Kapsabet, Vihiga,” the notice reads.
Others are Machakos, Isiolo, Murang'a, Laikipia and Nyamira.
The schools are Bandari Maritime Academy, Mau Mau Secondary, Isiolo Boys, Kangaru Girls, Nyeri Primary, Kiambu High, Kitale School Girls’, Kapsabet Boys, Nanyuki High, Nakuru Boys, Kakamega High, Chavakali High and Kebirigo Boys.
Another 17 institutions of higher education will be used as county tallying centres.
“The counties are Kilifi, Taita Taveta, Garissa, Baringo, Kericho, Busia, Garissa, Makueni, Narok, Bomet, Kisumu and Turkana,” the notice reads.
Others are Uasin Gishu, Kajiado, Bungoma, Homa Bay, Migori and Kisii counties.
The institutions are Pwani University, Taita Taveta University, Garissa University, Wote TTI, Turkana University College, Eldoret Polytechnic, Maasai Mara University and Masaai TTI.
Others are St Giuseppina Bakhita TTI, Mabanga Farmers Training College, Busia ATC, Tom Mboya Labour College, Tom Mboya University College, Migori TTC, Kisii Polytechnic and Kericho TTC.
Out of the 290 constituencies, 230 schools in the listed constituencies will be used as third-schedule constituency tallying centres.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris