As schools reopen today following a nine-month hiatus due to Covid-19, some are holding classes under trees.
Last week, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha advised schools without extra classrooms to embrace learning under trees to meet the Covid-19 social distancing requirement.
“I want to ask our teachers to ensure that they become innovative as schools reopen. In this school, for example, under good weather, the head teacher can consider having classes outside in addition to others being inside the room Let us be innovative and stop criticising without offering solutions,” CS Magoha said last week at Mjini Primary School in Murang’a.
Low turnout
In Baringo County, Grade 4 pupils in Seriani Primary school had their classes under trees in the school compound. However, the turnout was low. Only two PP1 students had reported to school when the Nation toured the school.
The county has recently experienced flooding after Lake Baringo overflowed, leading to the submersion of 15 primary schools. Many pupils were stranded following the Ministry’s directive that they be integrated in other neighbouring centres but most of them could not access them due to long distance.
Pupils in Seriani Primary School in Baringo.
In the spirit of unity, Seriani Primary School hosted some students from Ngambo Primary School. Interestingly, the Nation found Class 8 students of Ngambo primary School sharing a class with PP1 pupils of Seriani, with both teachers struggling to teach the students without interrupting the “other” class.
The water levels are currently still high in Baringo and pupils from Loruk Primary School in the county had to access the school via a boat.
Pupils of Loruk Primary School in Baringo on their way to the institution.
Mweiga Primary School in Nyeri also followed Prof Magoha’s directive and had some of its pupils have their classes under trees.
The school’s administration decided that half of their population would have their lessons in such a manner in a bid to observe the social distancing protocol.
The pupils did not sit on desks as their counterparts in Seriani but on grass.
This situation was also observed in Nanyuki Primary School where Grade 1 pupils had to settle for classes under trees with two students occupying one desk to meet the requisite social distancing.
Deputy headteacher Kariuki Kiarie of Nanyuki Primary School with Grade 1 pupils.
Some schools in the Nyanza did not have it smooth after their classrooms were submerged by overflow from Lake Victoria. Among them was Ogenya Primary School, whose classrooms were filled with water and the community had to raise funds to put up temporary structures for the pupils.
A video seen by the Nation shows hundreds of pupils from eight classes squeezed in the wooden structures, which have no walls. At some point, one desk was occupied by four pupils in disregard of the Covid-19 regulation on social distancing. The temporary structures however, could not fit the entire population. Some pupils spilled over the edges of the structures and had to endure the scorching sun.
On one end of the structure, a teacher could be heard teaching English, with another teacher a few metres away teaching his pupils mathematics.
But it was not all gloom and doom as some schools, such as Kiamuru Primary School in Nyeri, built some extra classrooms and grade four pupils were seen carrying new desks to their new classrooms.
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