Open Schools Immediately

A major legal tussle is looming between the parents of school-going children and the government of Kenya over delayed re-opening of schools

According to a letter received by Attorney General Paul Kihara, Health cabinet secretary Mutahi Kagwe and education cabinet secretary George Magoha, the parents demanded schools to be reopened immediately failure to which they will move to court.

In the letter that was written by a practicing lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui on behalf of parents; the decision by the government to open restaurants and places of worship was in contradiction to closure of schools saying all are places of gathering.

You cannot rationally claim closure of schools on the ostensible risk of our children being exposed to corona virus infections in schools as though there are special incubation points that pose a higher or greater danger than these social points,” Kinyanjui wrote in his demand letter seen by Hello News.

“The lawyer argued reopening of social places posed a major risk of contracting COVID-19 than in schools. Heunfavorably compared the situation in Kenya to that of countries like Sweden, UK, Taiwan, Germany, France, Italy, Ivory Coast, Tanzania (which declared itself CORONA free) DRC, Netherlands, Denmark, Uruguay and most states in the USA where schools reopened despite COVID-19 takeover.

The parents’ letter came barely days after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) asked school head teachers to organize for teaching of learners within their community through a programme: Community Based Learning (CBL)

Secondary School Heads Association national chairman, Kahi Indimuli, said the programme may entice many of the parents to taking their children to nearby schools to cut on transport costs and boarding. However, teachers across the country still question how practical the programme would run terming teaching under trees as a very old, belittling kind of approach in imparting knowledge citing highest level of distractions during learning sessions.

Education CS Magoha said the earliest schools can reopen would be in January 2021 after he cancelled the 2020 academic year. The CS cited a possible spike in COVID-19 cases between the months of September to November saying the cases would have dropped by January 2021.

However, in other meetings he also said that reopening will depend on dates that COVID 19 infection curve will flatten ,something he said no one knows and the whole country owe no one any apologies for that.