Government to spend Sh1.6b on desks ahead of school re-opening

The government has set aside Sh. 1.6 billion for the construction of desks for all primary schools in the country to ensure the ministry of health guidelines are adhered to.

CS George Magogha said the government has developed a prototype of the type of desks it wants to be made for the schools and that all the 47 county commissioners had been called to Nairobi to take the design of the prototype to be replicated at the sub-county level.

According to the ministry the desks will be locally assembled by artisans in the counties and should be ready ahead of reopening of schools.

To actualize the change of sitting agreements in schools, the CS said education stakeholders will have a meeting this coming Friday to deliberate further on new modalities for reopening learning institutions.

The CS who was in the coastal region to inspect the preparedness of learning institutions however attacked the media for ‘misquoting’ him over the re-opening of school statements he had made.

Prof Magoha insisted that all learning institutions will be re-opened in January 2021 adding that the media reports made him look like a fool in front of Kenyans.

“I will not and shall not say anything with regards to the re-opening of schools because the Fourth Estate has continued religiously to write what I have not said,” he said adding that the misinformation of facts from the media was confusing Kenyans.

He added that when the government closed down the schools after the first case of Covid-19 was reported there was no clear date of reopening due to the pandemic.

“We have not changed anything but depending on the behaviour of the virus and the ability of schools to comply with certain things then we shall re-look into the matter but the media have made me look like somebody who did not go to school,” he said.