The earliest exams can be done is February or March — Magoha

Education CS Prof George Magoha on Thursday said the earliest exams can be done is February or March.

This, he said, was dependent on whether schools will be opened in September.

The CS emphasized that the Ministry is avoiding a situation where learning will resume then will be halted after a few weeks because of a surge in Coronavirus cases.

“We are working towards opening schools in September and the dates of the exams will definitely roll to early next year.

“The children must start from where they left. The earliest exams can take place is around February and March…not later than April,” he said.

Adding: “If we do the exam in April then transition will not take place.”

On the safety measures that have to be adhered to before then, Magoha said deliberations were ongoing on whether all teachers should be tested first since they have the potential to infect many students.

“Before we open we will take the teachers to school and they will have been taken through the Covid response programme,” he said.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced that 184 people had tested positive for the coronavirus, raising the national tally to 4,044 as Health CAS Dr Rashid Aman warned infections were entering the exponential (rapid expansion) phase.

During the daily Covid-19 national brief, Dr Aman said that the ministry had tested 2,518 samples in the past 24 hours.

The total number of samples tested so far is 124, 474.

He said 129 of the new cases were male and 55 female. All new confirmed cases are Kenyans except one.

The Ministry has also discharged an additional 27 patients, which brings recoveries to 1,353. Two more people have also succumbed to the disease raising the death toll to 107.