Are Schools Really Ready To Re-Open?

Following the President’s directive that all schools be opened on Monday, May 13, the question remains: are schools really ready to reopen?

The President has advised all parents and guardians to prepare their children for the official opening of the second term on the said date. This comes after a two-week delay occasioned by heavy flooding across the country. Initially, the Ministry of Education had postponed the opening dates from April 29 to May 6.

The floods have blocked and damaged major roads, with bridges overflowing in different regions. Some of these roads, which connect major towns and school districts, remain unusable, posing risks to travellers, including students who will be travelling back to various schools. Garsen-Witu-Lamu and Ahero-Kisumu roads remain dangerous as rising water levels in rivers Tana and Nyando have overtopped different bridge sections.

Some schools are still being used as makeshift rescue centres for flood victims in areas such as Maai-Mahiu and Nyeri, raising concerns about where these people will be relocated once the schools reopen. Various schools have also been directly affected by floods, with classrooms, fields and latrines remaining waterlogged, posing risks of waterborne diseases.

With residential areas also not being spared by burst riverbanks, demolitions, land, and mudslides, the query of whether families are in the correct physical, financial, and mental state to send their children back to school intensifies. For instance, the parents are faced with the dilemma of whether to recover their lost livelihoods or channel the little finances they have into paying school fees.

Though money has already been allocated to help flood victims rebuild their lives, the question of whether the money will go to its intended recipients is also a concern.

The President has also pointed out that plans to repair school infrastructure are underway and that money has been disbursed to constituency funds to facilitate the projects. Given the government’s track record, the puzzle of whether the projects will be completed in good time raises eyebrows.

Taking all these aspects into consideration, the government should extend the opening of schools to a later date, until a time when all the repair projects have been completed and all victims settled.