Online learning during this Covid-19 pandemic isn’t as easy as perceived by the government according to Bungoma County KNUT Secretary General Kenneth Nganga. The KNUT boss has stated that at the moment, due to high poverty levels among Kenyans, some of them can’t afford smartphones to facilitate online learning.
“The government said that the internet will be available to all Kenyans but they know that it is impossible, and this is due to the poverty that Kenyans are experiencing. Not at all of them have smart phones or TVs and even if they own TVs, who will explain to the children when online lessons are on?” posed Nganga, “The truth is 90% of our children are not reading.”
However, he said that it will be difficult for such students or pupils to be given the national exams bearing in mind that they were in schools for a period of two months only, then schools closed because of the Coronavirus.
He said Education CS Prof. George Magoha should consult education stakeholders and he will discover that not all children are part of the online lessons. “Let the national exams be brought, both the KCPE and KCSE, but the examining part should be from the syllabus covered up to the two months they were in class before schools closed,” he emphasized.
Nganga urged the national government through the Ministry of Education not to hurry with matters examinations but have patience until the Covid-19 pandemic is managed.
“As a union we thought that the Ministry should not hurry since this Corona pandemic has no timeline, we have not been told if this disease will end in June, August or even tomorrow, we never knew that people could go back to their jobs in Nairobi, restaurants and clubs were to be opened, so let us wait until when the disease is combated,” he said.
