Schools to reopen amid heavy rains, head teachers transfer

Schools reopen tomorrow for the second term with several activities lined up.

But as they head back to school, some challenges await the learners, among them floods that have occurred in different parts of the country, with some schools playing host to victims.

Several schools will also have new principals after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) transferred 515 head teachers.

The government is also expected to rollout medical cover for students and conclude their registration under the National Education Management Information System (Nemis).

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has acknowledged that the ongoing rains have affected infrastructure in many parts of the country, including hindering access to school environments.

FLOODS
Ms Mohamed has since instructed Regional Coordinators of Education and County Directors of Education to conduct a quick assessment on the impact of the rains on schools, technical institutions and public universities in their respective regions.

“Particularly, the officers should advise the ministry on areas where the rains may drastically affect the opening of schools or the learning process in the higher education sector with a view to forestall any crises.

"I also urge the public to be vigilant and take proper care of our young ones who are also our greatest resource,” Ms Mohamed said.

The Meteorological Department has indicated that there will be heavy rains in the coming days, affecting students as they report back for the second term.

TEXTBOOKS
Schools will also be hoping that the government releases capitation on time to enable them plan their activities effectively.

On Saturday, the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) said books for Class One to Three for the new curriculum that is under national piloting are in bookshops across the country.

“We have published books and distributed them across the country. We have about 250 approved books,” chairman Lawrence Njagi, who called on the government to consider buying the books for schools to facilitate the piloting of the new system, said.

The piloting started in January and is set to run until the end of the year ahead of its full rollout next year.

The government will also be racing against time to have all students registered under Nemis, after extending the exercise for more than two months.

STUDENT REGISTRATION
The exercise, which seeks to register all students in schools, started in February and so far, close to 10 million students have been registered against a target of 12 million.

The ministry has indicated that going forward, cash disbursements for the free primary education programme, free day secondary education programme and the KCPE and KCSE examinations registration fee payments for candidates will be done through the Nemis platform.

“We therefore encourage schools to continuously and accurately update their students and staff data on the Nemis system,” Ms Mohamed said.

Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) will also be cleaning its register for 1.7 million candidates who have registered for national examinations this year, set to be done in November.

The council has also introduced new tough rules that will lock out candidates from the examination if they do not validate their data since no photocopying of examination question papers will be allowed during examination sessions in case the materials are not enough.

EXAMS
The move is aimed at safeguarding the integrity of the national exams, while head teachers will also be punished by their employer for such mistakes.

“Due to the threat of breach of security occasioned by the photocopying of examination papers, Knec is committed to ensuring clean registration data for the accurate packing of materials.

"On account of this, protest cases will not be accepted. Only subjects captured in the nominal rolls will be offered to the candidates,” an April 12 circular signed by Knec chief executive Mercy Karogo and her Teachers Service Commission counterpart, Ms Nancy Macharia, addressed to education officials and school heads reads.

Some 1.1 million candidates have been registered for the KCPE exam, while some 663,811 will sit the KCSE exam at the end of the year.

Last year, the question papers and answer booklets were combined to beat new cheats after it emerged that providing them separately led to collusion in some instances.

HEAD TEACHERS
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has opposed the transfer of teachers.

The union has also written to Labour Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani asking him to intervene.

Tomorrow, the union’s national executive council (NEC) - which consists of 41 members - and the national advisory council (NAC) that has 440 members will meet in Nairobi to deliberate on the transfers.

Also affected by the transfers are officials of Kenya Primary School Heads Association (Kepsha) and Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (Kessha) in counties as well as sacco officials.

“Transfers of elected union representatives from their current jurisdiction constitutes an attack on the trade union rights; leadership of teachers associations and investments are equally affected,” Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion said last week.

However, TSC has defended its decision to delocalise leadership of schools.