a return to school canceled for all students because of the Covid-19

"It's sad, and a real mess", regrets Esther, 18, a communication student. “The pandemic has thrown everything to the ground.” In Kenya, the start of the school year has been canceled for all students, a National Education decision in July, which therefore involves the forced repetition of pupils from kindergarten to high school.

For now, Kenya is the only country to have taken such a drastic decision, since students will be back to school as from next January. Thus, nearly 90,000 schools will remain closed in the country.

Growing inequalities

Closing schools is a measure to fight inequalities. Unfortunately, this decision had rather the opposite effect. In rural areas, inequalities are even greater for families. Indeed, many free meals were distributed in schools. "It's not easy, because I have to pay the rent, feed (my children)"says Lilian Adhiembo, a widowed student mother who earns barely 200 shillings (about 1,000 FCFA) a day from selling charcoal, according to the Ny Times.

Schools and education staff are also struggling to cope. And for good reason, at the beginning of August, 126 private schools had already indicated that they would not reopen their doors in January, according to the Kenya Association of Private Schools (KPSA). A sector that brings together more than 2.3 million primary school students, which is therefore heavily impacted financially. Their main source of income was the children's school fees. Thus, some teachers in the private sector have not been paid for several months for lack of resources.

In 2020, nearly 27,000 cases of covid-19 have been identified, including more than 400 deaths, according to figures from the Kenyan government. For this blank year, the end-of-year exams have been canceled and all students will resume next year in the same class as this year.

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Video by Juliette Le Peillet