The COVID-19 pandemic has destabilized the world and caused havoc to a great population. Schools were on the receiving end, with movement restrictions and lock-downs disrupting the academic calendars.
After the shutdown of Schools in Kenya by the Ministry of Education in early March this year, schools reopened on 12th October 2020, with the candidate classes being the first batch to resume classes. These included pupils and students from Grade 4, Standard 8, and Form 4.
The Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Health developed strict COVID-19 Control and Prevention Protocols that needed to be enforced prior to the reopening of schools and continuously after reopening. At Mekaela Academies we took the task to ensure that we met all these guidelines in order to safeguard the lives and well-being of our learners, teachers, support staff, and parents.
We have mounted enough Hand-washing stations around the school, Strict enforcement of Temperature checks for every visitor, parent, teacher, and student who comes through our gates, and an all-day face-mask policy. We have a desk adjacent to the gate where all those coming in have their names and temperature readings captured. The school has liaised with the nearby Private and Public Health facility to be on stand-by in the event we have someone who meets the case-definition of a COVID-19 infected person.
A lot of sensitization has taken place for our students and staff on all the COVID-19 Disease Control and Prevention protocols. This is an on-going process and we strive to ensure that all the relevant stakeholders are involved in the fight against COVID-19 in our schools.