NAIROBI, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The cleaning of classrooms, slashing down of knee-high grass and opening up of drainage systems were some of the requisite undertakings readying Nile Road Special School, located about nine kilometers from Nairobi's central business district, for a possible reopening.
The school which specializes in tutoring mentally-challenged children has been devoid of occupants for the better part of the year as it closed doors in line with government directives to curb the spread of COVID-19.
However, the learning institution is slowly regaining its vibrancy thanks to the ongoing sprucing up ahead of its expected reopening.
"The school is once again alive, the teachers have reported as per our employers request in order to lay the groundwork for reopening and the workers are hard at work making the school habitable. We are all systems go," Rose Wara, deputy principal of Nile school, told Xinhua in an interview on Monday.
Kenya education stakeholders held a series of meetings aimed at developing mechanisms for recalling learners to school after 6 months' extended holiday due to COVID-19.
The committee charged with developing modalities for schools reopening last week directed teachers to report to their workstations and prepare the ground for a return to in-person learning.
"We are asking our teachers to report to school on Monday to prepare for the eventual reopening of school, so the teachers can report between Monday and Tuesday," said Nancy Macharia, CEO of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
Following that directive, school heads, teachers and the board of directors started streaming back to learning facilities and more continue to do so to date.
However, they are now in limbo after President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday failed to give the much-awaited announcement on specific reopening dates, emphasizing on the need to achieve the safety of learners.
"The life of our children and their health is not a matter of debate, learning institutions, therefore, should only be reopened when we have and can sufficiently guarantee the safety of all our children," Kenyatta said at a forum in Nairobi.
"Let us not focus on when schools will reopen but on how they will reopen," he added.
As such, teachers from Nile Road School who teach learners with mental disabilities want the government to formulate guidelines that are appropriate for their circumstances even as they continue to prepare to receive students once schools open.
"Some of our learners suffer from cerebral palsy hence you would not expect them to follow through with some recommendations such as the wearing of masks, washing of hands and keeping a social distance. They do not process information like the rest of us," said Wara.
She said that the ministry of education had inadvertently forgotten their unique challenges while developing guidelines that were forwarded to schools for safe reopening.
"Some of the guidelines will be very difficult to implement because of the nature of their disability, for instance, if a child runs to you for an embrace, are you to turn them away because of social distancing? Doing that would break their hearts," said a teacher from Nile school.
Being a day and boarding school further heightens the concerns of teachers, given the children come from different parts of Nairobi.
These concerns notwithstanding, Wara and the entire teaching fraternity are ready and have vowed to continue from where they left off.
At another primary school not very far from Nile school, Jogoo Road primary school, teachers touch base after months of being apart.
They cleaned rooms and the compound unperturbed in the hope that the dream of resuming in-person learning will be realized soon.
"All the cleaning is being done by teachers, perhaps a clear indication of their eagerness to resume oral tutorials," said Ruth Kendi, the head teacher.
"I think our biggest concern is if the learners will show up, because our school caters for students from informal areas and some parents might have lost jobs while others relocated away from the city," said Ruth Gatheca, a teacher a Jogoo Road primary school.
Kendi hailed the government for drilling a borehole inside the school which she said will promote hygiene once learning resumes.
She said that staggered learning would be ideal for the school owing to its limited classrooms.
On matters of recovery of lost time, Kendi said that apathy among learners might hamper extra classes if the school was to adopt any.
"We are for the idea of staggered learning where we have learners coming in the morning while others in the afternoon because this school only has one stream for each class," said Kendi.
"Past experience has shown that there is disinterest in make-up classes among the students. However, if we come to an agreement to take that route, both the parents and learners will have to be sensitized on the importance," she added.
Elsewhere, a private school proprietor outside the capital city who had repurposed classrooms into chicken houses said she is yet to start clearing the rooms for their intended occupants until a definitive opening date is announced.
"I have not yet started clearing the rooms because there has not been a definite pronouncement from the government. I will only do so when I know the exact opening date," said Beatrice Maina, director of a private school based in central Kenyan county of Kirinyaga told local media. Enditem
