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It’s Uhuru’s call, Magoha tells parents on schools


Parents will have to wait until President Uhuru Kenyatta issues a directive regarding the reopening of schools, Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha has said.

The Education CS clarified that the decision on when to reopen learning institutions rests solely with the Head of State as he is the only one with authority to do so.

“Over 100,000 schools are still closed countrywide. The decision on whether to reopen the learning institutions lies with President Uhuru. It is upon him to decide whether open or not,” remarked Magoha.

The CS, who spoke during a visit at the Siaya Institute of Technology on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, further reiterated that learning in schools would only resume once appropriate measures are in place to combat the novel coronavirus.

He went on to state that safeguarding children from the deadly virus was of paramount importance to the government even as it contemplates reopening schools.

“Some have rushed and they had to backtrack. South Africa and America are examples where children have died. More than 100,000 children were infected with Covid-19 when schools resumed learning activities. We do not want such a scenario here,” he stated.

Magoha was responding to a demand letter filed by lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui on behalf of a parents’ association, in which the CS had been given until Tuesday, August 18, 2020, to ensure schools reopened by September 1, 2020.

In the letter, parents have accused Magoha of discriminating against the children based on their age by halting schools yet grown-ups had resumed their normal way of life.

The latest developments come barely a month after the CS announced that children would have to stay home for longer until January 2021, when schools would reopen.