Over 1,600 Public Schools Not Ready for Monday’s Reopening
Confusion looms in public schools next week when learning begins after President William Ruto’s order to reopen.
Reports now indicate that hundreds of thousands of students might not be able to return to school on Monday due to the flooded buildings and destroyed classrooms at their institution.
Speaking on Thursday, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu stated that only 5% of schools are ready for reopening. “We have assessed all our schools, and over 95 percent are ready for reopening; the ones badly affected are less than five percent,” Machogu stated.
This means that at least 1,649 of the country’s 32,878 public primary and secondary schools would not reopen. These include schools where toilets and other vital facilities have collapsed, potentially posing major issues for students, according to Prof. Machogu.
Interior PS Raymond Omollo, speaking in Bungoma, said the floods continue to affect almost 2,000 schools. He stated that the schools are distributed across 21 counties.
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PS Omollo said that nearly 2,000 schools had suffered significant damage and mentioned that they had put in place sufficient mechanisms to ensure the smooth continuation of students’ education.
According to Machogu, the government will provide Sh1 billion for the rehabilitation of damaged facilities at these schools via the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
The situation also affects seven primary and three secondary schools, which are currently acting as settlement centers for displaced families. For these schools, the CS says they are working with the Ministry of Interior to transfer families so that the institutions can reopen.
“We want to reassure parents that their children will be safe when they get back to school,” Machogu stated.
Over 1,600 Public Schools Not Ready for Monday’s Reopening
