The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the Kenyan educational system with a massive, unprecedented blow. As soon as the first positive case was announced on March 13, 2020, schools were immediately shut down, oblivious of what was to come in the next few months.
The graph of daily infections is still steadily increasing, with about 600 cases per day as of early August. In total, Kenya has recorded 26,928 cases and 423 deaths -- the curve is yet to peak and stabilize, and so a reduction in cases will perhaps not be a reality in the near future. Because of this, the question of in-person learning is not on the table.
The solution, then, must be online learning, right? However, the problem to think about is that a huge majority of schools and students are not equipped with the necessary resources to conduct effective online learning either.
As soon as schools were shut down, a small minority of students resumed with their education through taking classes online, leaving millions of others at home with nothing to keep them busy and propagating the issue of teen pregnancies. Consequently, to address this glaring issue of inequality, in July 2020, the Kenya Ministry of Education decided to scrap the entire school year, as though it didn't exist. Since the academic year begins in January, all students in the national educational system are set to 'repeat' an entire year, that is, those meant to be in 5th grade this year will now begin 5th grade in January 2021.
As for those students in expensive European and American international schools, they will happily resume their studies after an unusual summer break, albeit online -- this only makes the already apparent educational inequality worse.
I personally do not believe that schools in my country are ready to resume for in-person learning. But perhaps what's most devastating is that if in-person learning is not possible, no learning at all is for most students in Kenya. It's a brutal awakening call of the inequality that plagues the learning system.
And, what if, when January comes, the country still isn't ready to reopen schools? We need practical and viable solutions!
NB: Universities and colleges have been closed for physical instruction as well until January 2021, but they may still conduct their operations through remote means.
This is definitely one of the biggest problems with online education. I've been thinking about possible solutions for people who lack access to the internet, electronics, etc. One idea is to implement something similar to what the Philippines had proposed a month or so ago, in which the country will be broadcasting school lessons on TV. This might be more accessible for Kenyans and others around the world, but it's far from a perfect solution.
Another idea that I've been thinking about (and this might be a little unfeasible, but it's been on my mind) is somehow getting NGOs or other volunteer organizations to partner with local governments and manually distribute schoolbooks. Resources like textbooks, novels, and worksheets, for instance, could be really helpful for kids struggling to obtain an education!
Thanks, Sabahat, for reading through this and taking the time to respond!
You're definitely right -- solutions like broadcasting lessons on TV could be a step in the right direction, but it's also important to remember that not everyone owns a TV. One could say that the radio is an option as it's more widespread especially here in Kenya, and my government did try that. However, the problem is far more complex than perhaps might first meet the eye -- being at home brings with it so many challenges. I actually wrote an article for the August periodical on the alarming high rate of unintended teen pregnancies seen during the pandemic. Besides that, the way the society is set up here expects a lot from children in the household. So in as much as lessons were being broadcast on radio, a lot of children were busy with helping out their parents with cooking, caring for the livestock, etc that they didn't even have time to listen in, propagating the issue of inequality as some were indeed able to. To add insult to the injury, most students share books since the resources are not enough, so access to things like books becomes another factor to key in, so if they did find time to in fact listen in, they were not be able to apply it and practice it. Having NGOs distribute books, like you suggested, would be of huge help and that's a great idea, but as you said, it's far from the perfect solution and would require a lot of resources to accommodate for every single school-going child.
It's just devastating to think about how millions of children are stranded at home unable to obtain an education because of the pandemic and in turn facing many more problems while I have the privilege to easily attend online classes at my own institution. I think it's an issue that we all need to think about and your suggestions could definitely be a good start. Thanks Sabahat! I hope Saudi is doing much better than this haha.