The Ministry of Health on Tuesday defended its push to have full time learning resume, claiming that the school is safest for learners.
Speaking at Afya House, Health Acting Director-General, Patrick Amoth said the financial impact of children at home coupled with their safety, is what makes the Health Ministry push for full-time school reopening.
“The phased reopening of schools has worked well. We have had cases of outbreaks in particular schools but the Ministry of Education has worked well with that of Health, to quarantine those learners and ensuring that learning continues uninterrupted,” Dr Amoth said.
“We have stated that the school corridor is the safest for learners. When students are out of school, they suffer stress, anxiety, depression, sexual-based violence, cases of teenage pregnancies, child labour, early marriages and this is a huge loss,” he added.
Amoth stated the government is convinced that the lessons learnt during this phased re-opening season and the Covid-19 protocols, will appropriately give direction to guarantee children’s safe resumption of learning.
Amoth explained another reason why learners need to reopen schools is that the age group of 10-19 years, within which learners fall, have the lowest mortality related to Covid-19.
He said the chance of succumbing to the virus in that age group is 1 per 10,000 persons. Amoth said that the plan is to ensure a satisfactory surveillance system is in place.
