Having overcome a period of uncertainty due COVID-19 pandemic, the national secondary and primary schools games are making a comeback in a rather busy 2023 calendar.

The Ministry of Education released the year’s calendar where games start earnestly in April culminating in the regional championships to be hosted in Bujumbura, Burundi, in August.

The Ministry released the circular for the programme and copied it to six entities including the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Council of Governors, Kenya Teachers College Principals Association, Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association, Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association and all Vice Chancellors of public and private universities.

Safety measures

When schools were closed in 2020 after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in Kenya, most of the Term One activities were at the county level while the subsequent regional level games were yet to start.

Following the scourge, learning was halted as the government spelt out a raft of safety measures to curb the spread of the disease.

To set the ball rolling, the 2023 regional competitions will start with Primary Schools term one athletics that will be hosted in Rift Valley at William Ole Ntimama Stadium in Narok on April 23-24 and will be preceded by a lengthy coordination clinic on April 21-22.

As the games begin, Rift Valley will be hoping to stamp its authority as the overall winner at the Kenya Primary School Sports Association (KPSSA) athletics finals last held at St Mark’s Kigari Teachers Training College in Embu.

The three-time champions collected 180 points to emerge winners in the games.

Meanwhile, there will be the Senior Primary Schools athletics show piece which will be hosted at Moi Forces Academy.

The Secondary Schools’ term one games will also run concurrently with the games and will be hosted at Nairobi School.

This will be followed by the Secondary School term two games in Uasin Gishu County to be held at both Hill School and Moi Girls Eldoret on April 24-29.