Parents have now made a U-turn on the Government decision to reopen the school on October. They said though we are united in encouraging Prof. Magoha to keep the move of reopening schools but there are several loopholes which need consideration before resumption.
Parents have raised a number of questions on the confusion of reopening school before January 2021.
First and foremost Parents are crucial education stakeholders; the government cannot afford to leave them out of decision making. The constitution requires parents to be actively involved in decisions affecting their children. However Parents weren’t consulted on what priority areas the Ministry should focus on, how the new desks should look and they are yet to see the refreshing design of these Covid compliant desks.
The parents argued that you can’t have Covid compliant desks without having Covid compliant classrooms. Majority of public school have poor classrooms, dining halls and dormitories. The government haven’t done enough to improve the infrastructure. If new classroom blocks aren’t constructed, or old ones extended, then the government might as well have started playing games with our children’s health.
Parents want the teachers to go for a thorough COVID 19 training before they start handling their children. It will equip both the teachers and the students with the necessary knowledge on the disease.
On the other hand, parents need all students and teachers to be tested to ensure no threat of spreading the disease. The testing will make their COVID 19 statuses known before learning commences.
Parents and children from the slams feel marginalized because they lack the facilities. TSC and the Ministry of Education have not considered their situation. They need the two Ministries to provide classrooms constructed with the considerations and guidelines of ministry of health regarding Measures to limit the spread of COVID 19.
Furthermore parents need the teacher’s employer TSC to avail COVID 19 FREE learning / teaching materials. Teachers do not teach from their heads but need reference materials and other resources.
For some parents planning for an October return to school is a difficult thing as they had not budgeted for it. Many do not have money to pay fees claiming the notice, if it comes, will be too short. Several parents maintained they were not prepared to pay school fees in October given the ravages of the pandemic, which has rendered thousands jobless.
Parents demanded that the capitation funds which were not used for first term and second term be spent to run schools, let them not tell us that parents must pay schools fees, why should we pay? If they diverted the capitation monies to Corona and squandered it, they should be jailed
Prior to reopening, educational institutions are to develop policies and procedures suitable in their own environment to enable a smooth process.
They are also to provide a budget to institute safe and protective learning environment by putting in place all health protocols required in the fight against Covid-19.