The New York Times - USA (2020-08-06)

THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2020 Y A

Tracking an OutbreakGlobal Response

NAIROBI, Kenya — For Esther
Adhiambo, this year was sup-
posed to be a year of endings and
new beginnings. She was expect-
ing to complete high school, enroll
in a university and get a job to help
her single mother, who runs a
small tailoring business in Nairo-
bi’s Mathare slum.
Instead, for Ms. Adhiambo and
other Kenyan students, 2020 is
turning out to be the year that dis-
appeared. Education officials an-
nounced in July that they were
canceling the academic year and
making students repeat it. They
are not expected to begin classes
again until January, the usual
start of Kenya’s school year.
Education experts believe Ken-
ya is the only nation to have gone
so far as to declare the entire
school year a total washout, and
order students to start over.
“It’s a sad and great loss,” said
Ms. Adhiambo, 18, who wants to
get a degree and a job in mass
communications to help support
her seven siblings. “This pan-
demic has destroyed everything.”
The decision to scrap the aca-
demic year, taken after months-
long debate, was made not just to
protect teachers and students
from the coronavirus, but also to
address glaring issues of inequal-
ity that arose when school was
suspended in March, said George
Magoha, the education secretary.
After schools closed, some stu-
dents had the technology to ac-
cess remote learning, but others
didn’t.
But while the goal of canceling
the entire school year is to level
the playing field, researchers say
it might just widen these already-
existing gaps. Once schools re-
open, the two sets of students will
not be on the same level or able to
compete equally in national ex-
ams, Kenyan education experts
said.
“It’s like day and night,” said
Ken K. Ramani, an educational
economist and communications
director at The Technical Univer-
sity of Kenya, who has written
widely about education in Kenya.
The decision to suspend the ac-
ademic year affects more than
90,000 schools and over 18 million
students in pre-primary through
high school, including 150,
more in refugee camps, according
to the education ministry. Na-
tional exams usually taken by stu-
dents in their last year of primary
school and high school have also
been postponed, and there will be
no intake of new students in 2021.
Universities and colleges have
also been closed for physical
classes until Jan. 2021, but can
continue holding virtual instruc-
tion and graduations.
Over the past two decades, pri-
vate schools — from kindergar-
tens to high schools — have mush-
roomed across Kenya. About one-
fourth of schools in Kenya are pri-
vate — supported by private en-
trepreneurs, religious
organizations and nonprofit orga-
nizations. Some are start-ups
backed by Bill Gates, Microsoft’s
founder, Mark Zuckerberg, the
head of Facebook.
Private schools charge fees
ranging from tens of dollars per
year to tens of thousands of dol-
lars.
Kenya, like other countries, has
been struggling with how to pre-
vent the coronavirus from spread-
ing while keeping schools and the
economy humming. After strict
restrictions kept the case count
low, the country eased limitations
on movement, and has in the last
month seen a sharp rise in cases.
It has reported 23,873 infections
and 391 deaths, but that may be a

vast undercount because of lack of

access to mass testing.

When the government shut

down schools in March, it intro-

duced remote lessons streamed

over radio, television and videos

posted on YouTube. However, for

the vast majority of students,

many in poor and rural house-

holds, remote learning was not an

option. They didn’t have access to

television, laptops, or the internet,

or even the electricity to power

these gadgets.

This was the reality facing Joh-

nian Njue, 17, a 10th-grader who

lives in Nairobi, but attends a pub-

lic boarding school in Kwale

county in Kenya’s southeast.

Raised by a single mother in the

Mathare slum, Johnian had been

attending the school on a rugby

scholarship.

At home, with patchy electricity

and no telephone, textbooks or in-

ternet, he said he has received lit-

tle to no instruction from his

teachers, and has not been able to

access the lineup of remote

classes.

And Johnian has had to take

care of his two younger siblings

who are at home while his mother

is out — which distracts him, he

said, even when he wants to study

on his own.

Several of his friends from the

neighborhood, he said, have

started abusing drugs, snatching

bags and pick-pocketing, and

were not interested in studying to-

gether.

“They say ‘there’s no need of

reading. We will repeat the

classes next year,’ ” he said. But he

added: “I feel bad. I want to finish

school.”

His experience bears little re-

semblance to that of 11-year-old

Verisiah Kambale.

Since March, Verisiah, a fifth-

grader at the private Makini

School in Nairobi, has taken her

classes, including mathematics,

science and even physical educa-

tion, through live video instruc-

tion. She interacts with her teach-

ers, and has also been able to talk

to her classmates during class

breaks.

After school, she takes online

classes in music theory and clari-

net. She and her brother have the

support of their parents, who are

both working from home.

Verisiah said that even though

she misses in-person classes, she

is enjoying studying at home, be-

ing with her parents — who used

to travel a lot — and having time to

write and draw. She is even com-

piling a book of stories about 11-

year-olds’ experiences of the coro-

navirus pandemic.

“I have been studying and

working hard,” Verisiah said. “I

don’t want to repeat classes.”

Even after the government can-

celed the rest of the school year,

some private schools continued

holding online classes and charg-

ing tuition. This has helped them

to stay afloat, and afford to pay

rent and the salaries of tens of

thousands teachers, cooks, librar-

ians and lab technicians, said

Mutheu Kasanga, chairwoman of

the Kenya Private Schools Associ-

ation.

Ms. Kasanga said she was

aware that the pandemic has ex-

posed a “digital divide” that’s

purely based on the socioeconom-

ic status of parents. But instead of

scrapping the entire school year

— a move she described as “pun-

ishing the children” for the out-

break — she said education offi-

cials should have invested in prac-

tical solutions to keep children in

school, like prioritizing internet

connectivity to remote areas.

“As a country, we needed to

rally around our poor people and

ensure that every household is

able to cater to the education of

their children,” she said. By not

doing that, she said, “We have

failed as a country.”

Susannah Hares, co-director of

the global education program at

the Center for Global Develop-

ment, a research group, said the

decision to keep schools closed

until January was “understand-

able,” because public school class-

rooms are crowded, and many

lack facilities for hand-washing.

Kenya’s government acknowl-

edged the challenges inherent in

closing schools, including unequal

access to learning platforms, a

possible increase in domestic vio-

lence against children and the

likelihood that dropout rates will

rise.

However, some parents with

children in private schools aren’t

waiting for the government to re-

open schools next year. Some are

considering moving their children

to British, French or other private

foreign schools in Kenya, which

still plan to give their students for-

eign-standardized tests at the end

of this academic year. Students

who pass those tests can advance

to the next grade, while students

who were supposed to take the

Kenyan tests — now canceled —

will be left behind.

“In a worst-case scenario, come

January, what if the government

isn’t ready to open schools?” said

Verisiah’s mother, Serah Joy Mal-

aba. Changing to a foreign private

school, she said, is “something

we’ve thought about.”

That’s not an option for stu-

dents like Ms. Adhiambo who are

in public schools and whose par-

ents cannot afford the thousands

of dollars charged annually at pri-

vate schools.

For a few days a week, she goes

to a local community center where

volunteer teachers help her re-

view her coursework.

“At least I am lucky,” she said of

the study sessions. “My friends

don’t even have this.”

A TOTAL WASHOUT

In Kenya,

Safety Plan

Is to Cancel

School Year

By ABDI LATIF DAHIR

Esther Adhiambo, above center, attending a review class at a local community center in Nairobi.

She must now repeat her senior year of high school. Left, Johnian Njue, a public school student,

was unable to access remote classes because his home has no internet and patchy electricity.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KHADIJA FARAH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Verisiah Kambale, left, and her brother, Joseph Tayo Kambale, even took music lessons online.

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