President Uhuru Kenyatta has instructed all teachers to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus vaccine ahead of May 2021 reopening if schools.
The President Uhuru said that irrespective of age, teachers should get vaccinated.
The president issued the directive after holding a meeting with Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha in Nairobi City.
Teachers are considered high risk frontline workers, alongside health workers and security officers.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia also implored teachers taking part in the marking of the KCSE examinations before they travel to Nairobi to mark the KCSE examinations.
Dr. Nancy Macharia urged teachers to visit the 622 centres assigned for the vaccination exercise.
At the moment of writing this article, 70,000 teachers have gotten vaccinated against COVID-19.
The TSC CEO did reveal that at least 15 primary school teachers have died since the first COVID-19 case was reported in the country.
“We have lost three deputy head teachers and eight head teachers to COVID-19,” said Dr. Nancy Macharia.
Macharia said that going forward, the commission has come up with ways of protecting all teachers from the novel coronavirus.
“First we instructed our medical health insurance provider to cover all teachers against COVID-related ailments which they have since complied with,” Macharia said.
Macharia congratulated teachers for their efforts at work while braving the pandemic to ensure the national examinations are completed successfully.
In the past month, the Teachers Service Commission released data on the number of teachers who will get vaccinated against COVID-19 by June 2021.
110,000 teachers are already set to be prioritized in the vaccination exercise.
The Commission said that the 110,000 teachers comprise of staff who are 50 years and above and fall in the first group that is set to undergo vaccination.
According to Dr. Macharia, out of the 110,000 teachers 92,850 are teachers who work in public schools and are within the 50 year age bracket. 15,000 are 58 years and above.
TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia released the date after she had monitored the ongoing KCSE examination in Nairobi.
When the teachers’ mass vaccination was launched, Willis Akhwale, chairman of the COVID-19 task force for the deployment of the vaccine, said that teachers who have underlying medical conditions but do not fall under the age bracket will only be vaccinated in the next round when the second shipment arrives.
“We are expecting to receive another batch of vaccines and those teachers will be considered that time,” said Akhwale.
Dr. Nancy Macharia said that the commission is working behind the scenes to ensure that all teachers get vaccinated before schools reopen in May.
“We shall continue collaborating with the Ministry of Health to ensure that, gradually, all teachers receive the jab,” said the TSC boss.
Dr. Nancy said that teachers are among the vulnerable group because they come into close contact with learners who do not show any symptoms even when they are infected.
The TSC boss the opening of the age bracket will curb infections among teachers.
In public schools there are 330,671 teachers working there while 158,000 teachers work in private schools.
Magoha releases KCPE examination
Education CS George Magoha released the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) 2020 results yesterday at Mtihani House where the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) headquarters are located.
The results were released after CS Magoha had held a meeting with the Head of State.
This year’s KCPE results saw female candidates from public schools in top positions in the KCPE examination.
Faith Mumo was the top student with 433 marks. It is important to note that the top four candidate came from public schools.
The top student had 433 marks as compared to the last examination where the first student had 440 candidates.
Other students who performed well in the examinations are as follows:
- Wesonga Yuvet Nanzala and Muriithi Angel Gakenia – 432 marks (they tied)
- Sanwel Wanyonyi – 431
- Castro William – 431
- Maureen Tarus – 431
- Abiud Kipkirui – 430
- Margaret Mwangi – 430
- Dennis Omondi – 429
- Joyce Nkatha – 429
Girls performed well than their male counterparts in English, Kiswahili and Kenya Sign Language.
1,181,725 candidates registered for the KCPE examination but only 1,179,182 candidates sat for the KCPE examination this year after COVID-19 interrupted the school calendar.
“2,543 candidates had registered for the KCPE examinations but did not manage to sit for the examination,” said Dr. Karogo, KNEC CEO when the KCPE results were released yesterday.
12,000 other candidates were absent during the examination period.
3,500 primary school girls were pregnant with more than 200 of them sitting for the KCPE examination.
During the marking of Insha and Composition papers, 4,000 examiners were contracted to mark representing a rate of 70 percent of examiners who were contracted as compared to the previous year. The decrease in number of teachers is attributed to the imposed COVID-19 restrictions as well as the fear of infection.
PS Julius Jwan said that there will be transport arrangements for examiners who are marking the KCSE examination to teach their marking centres safely.
CS Magoha asked parents to take good care of their children to ensure they join form 1 this July and take up their places in secondary schools.