Some private schools have had to find alternative means of earning money – such as raising chickens
Kenya’s Education Minister George Magoha has announced that all students will return to school on 4 January.
Currently, only final year students are in school while in some places lessons have continued online for students in other years.
The school calendar was disrupted by coronavirus.
At the onset of the pandemic, the ministry of education scrapped the entire 2020 academic year but later announced that finalists would be allowed to resume face-to-face lessons.
This comes as some private schools have had to find alternative means of earning money –such as raising chickens.
For example, the classrooms at Mwea Brethren School, which once resonated to the sound of children learning, are now filled with a cacophony of clucking chickens.
On the chalkboard, maths equations have been replaced by a vaccination schedule.
Joseph Maina, who owns the central Kenyan school, has had to turn to nurturing animals to earn some money as he is no longer getting an income from providing an education.
Things were especially tough in March, when all the schools were told to close, as he was still repaying a loan and had to renegotiate with the bank.
At first, it seemed that everything was lost, but “we decided that we must do something [with the school] for survival”, Mr Maina told the BBC.
-BBC
