Kenya: George Magoha gets advice from Ombajo over school return of all students

Cabinet Secretary for Health, Mutahi Kagwe, and his Education counterpart George Magoha have been offered a solution on how all other students should return to school, according to a news report by Kenyans.co.ke.

The advice was offered by Dr. Loice Ombajo, the Head of the Infectious Disease Unit at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and an adviser to the COIVD-19 Task Force.

In an interview on October 27, Ombajo said that the closure of schools was not an option because learning is a very crucial part of every child’s development. She argued that CS Magoha and Kagwe should focus on reducing the spread of COVID-19 which spiked after restrictions to curb the spread of the virus were eased. 

According to her, the situation in the country is worsening, with hospitals overloaded and health workers contracting the virus. In the phased re-opening of schools, some have already been closed with teachers placed under quarantine. 

Tononoka Secondary School principal Mohammed Khamisi also died of COVID-19 a week after infections were reported among 11 teaching staff.

"It is important that children go to school because learning is a very crucial part of a child’s development. We have allowed everything to reopen and then we shall consider the solution to be school closure.

"We should instead think from the reverse. Let us reduce everything else so that we reduce the amount of COVID-19 and get to a point where we can allow children to go back to school," she stated.