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The Ministry of Health yesterday defended its push to have full time learning resume, arguing that the school environment is the safest for learners.

Health Acting Director General, Patrick Amoth said the economic impact of children being out of school coupled with their safety, are some of the reasons which are informing the government’s push for learners to go back to respective learning institutions.

 “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, who spoke from Afya House 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 said the government is confident that the lessons learnt during this phased re-opening period and the Covid0-19 protocals, will adequately give guidance to ensure children are safely back to school.

Another reason why children need to get back to school, explained Amoth is because the age group of 10-19 years, within which they fall, have the lowest mortality related to Covid-19.

He said the risk of dying in that age group is 1 per 10,000 populations.

As the government focuses on full reopening in January, Amoth said that the plan is to ensure an adequate surveillance system is in place.