Next Monday, the second term resumes for all primary and secondary schools. However, despite the directive from President William Ruto, 2,155 schools might not reopen.
“Perhaps around five percent of institutions could not open due to the very bad condition of their buildings and infrastructure caused by floods,” Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu stated on Thursday, May 9.
The schools impacted by the strike can be found in seven different counties, including Homa Bay, Tana River, Kisumu, and others.
Machogu mentioned that these schools were hit by floods and are still facing problems due to the flood, thus requiring more days for fixing things before learning can start again.
Additionally, Machogu mentioned that for the impacted schools, different interventions will be implemented to ensure students do not miss out.
Machogu stated these comments during his inspection of schools in Nairobi. He visited Karen C Girls Secondary and Mathare North Primary School in Nairobi, where he saw the damage caused by waters that had flooded classrooms as well as playgrounds.
CS said, “We are trying to look at other mechanisms on how learning can take place in the few schools, which are less than five percent and could be even less than two percent of schools.”
“Especially for Form 4 students, we will look into ways to make up for the lost time by extending [the second term] slightly. Normally, these schools were supposed to close for three weeks in August, and we may reduce the days they will be shut.”
CS included that they are still gathering the names of impacted schools and will give a complete list later.
In another part of Bungoma, Raymond Omollo, who is the PS for Interior, mentioned that nearly 2,000 schools located in 21 counties are still affected by floods.
He said, “Around 2,000 schools have suffered great damage. We have put in place enough systems to allow our students to carry on with their learning without problems.”