Philip Yegon and KNA 

The Kericho Health Department is working intensively with the Ministry of Education to ensure safety of learners.

Governor Paul Chepkwony yesterday said healthcare personnel were fully engaged and sensitising teachers and non-teaching staff on Covid-19 regulations with a view of beating the virus. 

Speaking in Kericho Town, the  governor said the county government has linked each school to a nearby healthcare facility to ease emergency response.

The county boss assured parents that his government is adequately prepared to tackle any corona case that might emerge in schools.

Governor Chepkwony at the same time urged residents to observe measures aimed at minimising spread of the virus. 

Meanwhile, Principal Secretary for Post Training and Skills Development Alfred Cheruiyot has called for tracing of learners who have not reported to school.

Cheruiyot who spoke at Kabartegan Secondary School in Bureti sub-county has urged all education stakeholders to trace learners of Grade Four, Standard Eight and Form Four who are yet to report to school and take them back to their learning institutions.

Elsewhere in Lamu, education officials have expressed concern over the low turnout of boys both in Class Eight and Form Four since the partial reopening of schools last week.

According to Lamu West sub-county Director Rukia Mohammed, for instance, in Lamu Island, the boys’ turnout could be as low as 74 per cent compared to the girls’ 90 per cent return rate.

“We are concerned that amidst the Covid-19 crisis, it is the girls who would drop out due to early marriages or teenage pregnancy, yet we find that has not been the crisis we were bracing ourselves for,” Mohammed stated.

She narrated how some of the boys who had dropped out had been forced to fend for themselves, with one particular case dropping out after the parents abandoned him to go back upcountry  after they lost their jobs because of the pandemic.