First and foremost, I want to confirm that the Ministry of Health has issued protocols on each of the issues addressing the safety of school children. It is not just the children but the teachers as well.
As you are aware, the older you are, the more vulnerable you are to the virus. Therefore, the protocols that have been issued include the fact that it is not just the children who are supposed to be masked but the teachers as well.
The measures touch on transport, classrooms, working outside the classroom as well as the behavior of the children even as they are being transported.
All these things have been addressed in the protocols that have been issued to the Ministry of Transport and that of Education. This whole government approach is what we have adopted.
It is also important to appreciate that if you look at the global best practices, you will see that from what has been happening from last year, various countries had different protocols.
Some of them opened schools and immediately closed them once they realized preparations for re-opening had not been effectively and efficiently put in place.
That is why we have taken our time, that is why we are working in the manner you are seeing — with everybody being involved.
At the moment, the country is experiencing a very low positive rate — below five percent for the last almost seven days.
And for that reason, there is confidence that hopefully, it is something that we can maintain even after opening schools.
However, we must anticipate any situation and that is why we have asked that preparations for all sorts of isolation facilities in the counties are all put in place just in case of anything.
That has also informed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s issuance of the [containment] orders so that we make sure we have done our level best to protect the children as they reopen the school.
Finally, if there is one time that is crucial to us as a country, is now with the issue of children.
Therefore, I appeal to parents and everybody concerned to work in a bi-partisan manner in such a manner that the main aim focuses on the safety of our children.
On our part, we will continue to pursue other possibilities of protection as we are also working on vaccines.