• Schools in Kenya began to reopen for in-person teaching on October 12 with KCPE, KCSE candidates and Grade 4 learners reporting back first.
• The candidates’ return meant to give them ample time for preparation of the national exams set to be conducted between April and June of 2021.
An online post suggesting that all learners will be required to report back to school for in-person learning from October 26 is FAKE.
The post appears in two websites – CHECK-POINT.CO.KE and republished by Opera News.
Data from CrowdTangle, Facebook’s public insights tool, shows the post has been shared dozens of times, attracting thousands of reactions.
The post on Opera news reads “all students in pre-primary one and two, Grades one to three, Classes five to seven and those in form 1, 2, and 3 will return to school from October 26 to November 2, 2020.,”
Schools in Kenya began to reopen for in-person teaching on October 12 with KCPE, KCSE candidates and Grade 4 learners reporting back first.
The candidates’ return was to give ample time for preparation of the national exams that are set to be conducted between April and June of 2021.
Teachers were directed to report back to school earlier to prepare for the safe return of students in the examination classes.
However, the Education Ministry is yet to state when the subsequent classes will be required to return for in-person teaching and learning.
The Education CS while announcing the first phase of resumption of in-person learning said that the first two weeks would be used to inform the reopening of subsequent classes.
Basic Education Principal Secretary, Belio Kipsang in a phone interview told the Star that the government is yet to direct resumption of teaching and learning for other grades, terming reports contrary to that as malicious.
Kipsang says plans are underway for the government to give proper guidance and dates on resumption.
In May, Education CS George Magoha appointed a 10-member task force chaired by Sarah Ruto to craft the reopening of learning institutions in the country in the era of Covid-19.
The taskforce in a report submitted to the Education Ministry, the cabinet and the President recommended schools adopt a phased reopening approach.
The report was, however, is not made public.
Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairperson Indimuli Kahi in a phone interview with the Star said schools are yet to get any directives on when in-person learning will resume for the rest of the classes.
The post also suggests that medical staff and some officers from the Ministry of health will stand at respective school entrances, to take students' temperatures before proceeding to the school compound.
However, this is contrary to the guidelines issued by the Education ministry that require teachers and other school staff to take charge of monitoring learners' temperatures.
This story was produced by The Star in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.