Schools have been shut since mid-March following the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the government to institute several measures to contain the spread.
Part of the first term and the entire second term were lost and it now seems the third term will equally be lost.
What is curious however is that the Ministry of Education says the allocation set aside for schools in the last financial year is almost exhausted. Where did the money go yet schools were closed?
In a statement to the National Assembly last week, Education CS George Magoha said the ministry only retained the co-curricular activities cash.
He turned down a request by MPs that the ministry uses unspent capitation on the construction of classrooms, arguing that last year's funds cannot be used for infrastructural development.
The ministry needs to come clean on how the unutilised money will be spent and why it cannot be used to expand facilities to meet the Covid-19 containment measures once schools reopen.
A cursory look at several public schools shows little has been done ahead of their opening.
Many of the facilities are in a deplorable state and will be a breeding ground for new Covid-19 cases unless the laid down health requirements are put in place before children report back.
Quote of the Day: “The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are a majority.”
James Fenimore Cooper
The American author died on September 14, 1851.
