After 9 months of strict quarantine, Kenya is getting back to normal life, which has a new face now. Local schools open, which is a relief to students, parents, and teachers. However, the new rules make it difficult to enjoy education.
Some things didn’t change. The course of lessons, the ability to find additional information on the internet, and getting affordable and expert help from WriteMyPaperHub, for example, by paying someone to write your papers for you. But wearing masks in congested classrooms, remembering to wash hands frequently, etc. is quite hard, especially with young students.
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Social Distancing in Kenyan Schools Is Almost Impossible
It’s difficult to imagine a school where every student and teacher is socially distancing. Especially if it’s a small school with many young students. Classrooms are too small to have everyone 6 feet apart from each other. Plus, children want to socialize, it’s their natural desire.
Wearing masks is also difficult because it’s hard to breathe in them. So, while most students and parents had been waiting for the schools to open, nowadays, there are more issues that are planned.
Kenya’s Ministry of Education and Health is doing everything possible to make precautions work:
- Children line up before entering the classroom;
- Their temperature is measured frequently;
- Everyone has to wash and disinfect their hands;
- Everyone has to wear masks;
- Children aren’t allowed to play together to avoid social distancing.
These precautions are great for lowering the risks of being infected with COVID-19. However, it’s very inconvenient, especially for young children who are best taught in a game-form.
How to Get Education in Such a Situation?
There are several things people can do to avoid losses of knowledge and quality of education.
1: Providing Schools with Necessities
Masks, sanitizers, high-quality soap, thermometers have to be supplied to every school to make it safe for children to learn there. Many students actually missed school, and it’s the best time to try and instill the love for learning in them.
All means of support, physical and moral, have to be available for the children and the teachers. The quarantine impacted everything, including people’s psyche, and it needs as much help as our bodies and economies.
In such an atmosphere, education will go smoothly, no matter the pandemic.
2: Incorporate Online Learning
Online education is a savior for many students around the world. When people are advised to stay at home unless it’s necessary to go outside, there’s no other way to have lessons as a group. So, many schools around the world use Zoom and other software for video calls.
This approach has many pros and cons.
Pros:
- The education process doesn’t stop;
- The whole group (in an ideal scenario) gathers as usual but in an online plane;
- Teachers keep their jobs and get paid, even though they are at home.
Cons:
- Such way of education is quite boring for many people, especially children;
- A stable Internet connection is nearly absent in many towns;
- Some students don’t consider this a normal way to get an education, so they miss lessons.
Nevertheless, online education is better than none at all. By the time the quarantine is over and the precautions aren’t obligatory, students may lose the knowledge they acquired earlier. Discipline will also deteriorate due to the absence of regular lessons.
Here’s a list of some of the best websites for students.
3: Finding Alternatives to Online Learning
Unfortunately, having a laptop and a stable Internet connection at home isn’t a basic reality for many people in Kenya, so alternative means should be introduced. Many schools can benefit from going back to the good-old home-learning.
By providing learning material, assignments, and tests, education will stay alive during the pandemic.
This is a great way out for the parents and students who are anxious about coming back to school because of the risks of getting the virus. Hopefully, schools will react positively to such decisions, approaching them with understanding and compassion. The risk is real, even though everything is done to lower it. There should be a choice for every family with any budget and possibilities.
4: Incorporating Outdoor Lessons
Another good technique is spending more time outside. There’s a lot more space to socially distance and still be able to listen to teachers and learn. In the meantime, the classroom can be cleaned and sanitized for the next session inside the school.
This approach will lower the risks of getting infected, make education much more fun, and allow more students to come back to learning. There are benefits from all sides. Many students have lost the sense of discipline and it’s difficult to sit in a congested room in a mask and trying to get productivity levels back.
So, spending a couple of lessons a day outside will be a way to give students more space and freedom, saturate their organisms with oxygen, and avoid losing the opportunity to learn.
The Main Factor Is the Desire to Learn
Many Kenyan students say that they had been waiting impatiently for the schools to reopen. They miss their friends and just being somewhere else and not at home for half of the day. With time and proper control, the coronavirus will go away, leaving our world in peace, kids at school, and adults at work or vacations.
If there is a desire to learn and gain new knowledge and skills, people will find a way to do it. The pandemic shouldn’t be an obstacle!
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