The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) candidates will sit their national exams in 2021 and the idea to resume classes in September 2020 for candidates has been shelved.
There will be hence no national exams in the year 2020 following the worldwide interruption COVID-19 has caused as CS George Magoha has announced KICD Nairobi accompanied by Education stakeholders.
“The school calendar 2020 has been lost to COVID-19,” Education CS George Magoha has said adding that there would be no national exams this year though also noting that TVETs would be allowed to reopen in September if they meet the required measures by the Ministry of Health to curb the spread of COVID-19.
All the other pupils and students other than the candidates will remain in the same class until 2021 to give the government sufficient time to flatten the COVID-19 curve.
“In consultation with the Ministry of Health, we have agreed schools to reopen when daily Covid-19 cases reduce consistently for 14 days. Social and physical distancing is the most critical factor in ensuring the safety of learners,” CS George Magoha has said.
“Inter-county movement of students will cause severe challenges with high incidents of infections. We are happy to inform Kenyans that the president accepted the recommendations,” CS Magoha has said.
“Members of the senate and faculty must agree how they are going to do a phased reopening,” CS George Magoha has said adding that university institutions will have to undergo an inspection to decide if they have met the required regulations.
“The flattening of the curve is what will guide us. The safety of learners and teachers at the place of work is very critical and important. We urge all parents to ensure the safety of the children until such a time that schools will be reopened,” KNUT secretary general Wilson Sossion has said adding that KNUT backs CS Magoha’s announcement.
CS MAGOHA: Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary schools to reopen in January; No KCPE, KCSE in 2020 pic.twitter.com/NUHNNOfhVS
— EduMinKenya (@EduMinKenya) July 7, 2020
The National parents association chairman Nicholas Maiyo said Kenya should do away with the 2020 school calendar and reopen in 2021 to safeguard the lives of the children adding that parents were against the move to reopen with the rising COVID-19 cases.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had directed Magoha to notify the public on the resumption of the 2020 academic year in his address to the nation yesterday, Monday 6th July 2020.
The January 2021 announcement has been supported by stakeholders including teachers’ unions, Parents, TSC, and CS George Magoha who said schools will not be reopened until the infection curve is flattened.
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