Hello Millenial Readers,

The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Ezekiel Machogu, has released a statement slightly past midnight this morning, the 29th of April, communicating the decision by the government to postpone the reopening of schools by a week. 

The Cabinet Secretary stated that it would be imprudent to risk the lives of learners and staff before watertight measures are put in place to ensure adequate safety of all the affected school communities. The CS said that this decision was taken after a directive last week to field officers to submit data for all basic education learning institutions countrywide, to assist the government in assessing the readiness of the schools for the second term opening which had been scheduled for today, the 29th of April.

Reports received at the Ministry of Education corroborated with data from other relevant government agencies show that a number of schools in various regions of the country have been adversely affected by the rains and with this decision in place in the meantime, it will allow the ministry to work with relevant agencies and stakeholders to put in place measures to mitigate the adverse effects of the rains, and to also provide regular updates on all developments as pertains to the education sector. 

The statement from the Cabinet Secretary has however elicited reaction from parents with questions as to why such a communication had to come this late, affecting most of them who had already made travel arrangements for their children to report to school this morning.

Earlier on Sunday, a section of church and political leaders had appealed to the government to suspend the reopening of schools from Monday due to the ongoing floods in the country. So far, 150 schools in the country have been affected by floods with some remaining submerged and with no rooftops hours before the opening day, according to reports by Citizen TV.

At Sikingi Primary School in Nambale, Busia County, for example, strong winds blew off iron sheets from ten classrooms. Some of the other affected schools include Maduwa, Runyu Bulwani, Budala, Namabusi, ACK, and Musoma Secondary School. A section of church and political leaders had on Sunday, voiced their concerns over the reopening of schools at a time when the country is grappling with the effects of floods. Over 1,700 victims of flooding had been ordered out of the schools where they had been seeking shelter.

In the midst of this sudden change, the governor of Nairobi today opted to pay for bus fare for stranded students in the Central Business District who were forced to travel back home, following the last-minute directive by the Education CS to postpone the reopening of schools by a week. This was seen in a clip posted on his X account. Madaraka Express has also, through its management, released a press statement on ticket extension for students. According to the statement, all student tickets purchased between Monday, April 29th 2024 and Friday, May 3rd aboard Madaraka Express will remain open for use from Monday, May 6th 2024 to Friday, 10th 2024. However, this extension only applies to students.

Final Thoughts

The last-minute change in the education sector has undeniably been disruptive to parents and has also been quite costly, on the financial front. However, this mostly applies to those who intend to use any other means of transport aside from the railway. However, this also has some silver lining to it; with the majority of the university students, the Gen Z’s, having wound up their semester and now on a break, those of them with younger siblings can now have time to bond with them and catch up in the meantime, awaiting further directives from the relevant ministries. They can as well offer mental and psychological support to their younger siblings during this time when the rains are becoming tormenting to everyone under the skies.

Thanks to the change, the parents and relatives with school-going children who had been directly affected by the floods, losing their property, can now have some more time, however little, to rebuild themselves and make any necessary preparations that time will allow so that their children can be ready for school before they are eventually confirmed open. This means some temporary relief and peace of mind for the relatives, especially the Gen Z or Millennials who bears the task of parenting a younger sibling in the family.

PS. Key Numbers to Call in Case of a Flood Emergency:

Kenya Red Cross

(+254) 703 037 000. Toll Free: 1199

National Disaster Operations Centre

0800-721-571

Nairobi County

Toll Free: 1508

Stephen ✌✌✌