Closure of schools, colleges will help to curb spread of coronavirus

Sunday’s presidential directive to close schools and colleges early in a bid to avoid further spread of the deadly coronavirus disease Covid-19 is commendable.

The lives of our children and staff in schools is at great risk. Teachers who commute in boarding schools are in contact with the outside world and, as they report to work everyday, anything was bound to happen.

Also, there are schools with thousands of students. With day schools, it was even riskier.

Additionally, with the Health ministry guidelines, heads of schools are supposed to provide hand sanitisers and enough soap for both students and staff. Some of these individuals are very stingy and will find it hard to cope in the name of schools lacking funds to provide for these basic requirements.

Nobody should gamble with other peoples’ lives; school heads must take this global pandemic with the utmost seriousness. Should the virus spread more, movement by public transport will be banned too. Who will take care of the students at school?

To avoid the imminent state of confusion, the government should immediately close schools and tertiary institutions.

MACHOKA M. SIMION, Bungoma

The confirmation of Covid-19 in Kenya did not stop at disrupting extra-curricular events only; it also halted classwork.

The Kenya Primary School Heads Association (Kepsha), Kenya Secondary Schools Association (Kessha), Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) and Kenya National Union of Teachers had all asked the Education ministry to order schools closed.

Students, especially those in day school, were at a high risk of exposure to the virus as well as transmitting it. They come from different geographical regions. Many use public means to commute to and from school while others come from areas where the level of interaction is quite high, making them highly susceptible to the virus and posing a big risk of spreading it.

Having students converge on classrooms for learning would have put all of them at risk of contracting the virus in case some are already exposed to it.

A Covid-19 outbreak in learning institutions would have paralysed the education sector and turned into a huge public health disaster.

Learning institutions host many students and other people and the residents are more vulnerable to disease outbreaks than those at home.

In university hostels, up to eight students share a rooms, not forgetting the massive crowds in lecture halls.

Pupils in kindergartens and primary and secondary schools have an even higher risk of infection as they are mostly exposed to dirt from the playgrounds and sanitation for them can be difficult.

The government should set up screening centres in the facilities.