“Learners Only Wear Masks When Teachers are Nearby,” KESSHA Tells Magoha
Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) Chairman, Mr. Kahi Indimuli has reported that Covid-19 no longer scares learners. The heads association boss noted that learners only follow covid-19 protocols when they see a teacher nearby.
His KEPSHA counterpart, Nicholas Gathemia, has agreed with his sentiments, saying that teachers have a tiresome task of enforcing the Covid-19 safety protocols among careless learners, who have so far dropped their guard.
See also: Minet Is Better Than Schemes Of Other Civil Servants: Sossion Tells Nyamunga
According to the heads’ associations, students are back to their normal school lives, barely one month after the partial reopening of schools. Learners are even seen crowding at market places, football joints and village football tournaments, yet they cannot fear being infected in schools.
This comes a few days after President Kenyatta issued a state directive, ordering all learners who are currently at home to stay home till January 2021.
Education cabinet secretary, George Magoha had earlier on expressed his fears over the spiking covid -19 cases. “Yes, Covid is spiking and it is not only in this country. What we are grappling with is whether to open for the other children or not.”
Indimuli informed, “Most learners are not wearing face masks, they do not care so much about proper use and hygiene of the masks and they also do not wash hands as frequently as it were before and this is a new challenge in schools,”
“These learners now think that after slightly above two weeks in school without any infections they are now good to go and can overlook some guidelines,” said Indimuli. He expressed his embarrassment with learners, who have abruptly retreated to the old normal and no longer even apply the social distancing rules.
Learners in boarding schools not only disobey the social distance rules in their dormitories, but also in their classrooms and dining halls.
“In the absence of teachers, these learners just interact as if it is back to normal,” a school head noted.
As per Gathemia’s statement, schools have not received mitigation measures to handle covid-19 challenges. He noted that teachers lack adequate sensitization on management of covid -19 in schools. “This poses a high risk to the teacher, parents and learners daily,” he added.
However, the two heads associations felt that reclosing schools will increase the risk of community transmissions of covid-19.
