Kenya coronavirus: school year annulled, classes resume in 2021

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:39 pm

Kenya continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic with cases steadily rising each day. Government have locked down a handful of counties including the capital Nairobi and imposed a night-time curfew as part of containment efforts.

This rolling page will continue to give updates on major occurrences as relates to the East African country. You can follow Kenya’s March – April 2020 COVID-19 updates on our earlier page.

Kenya as of May 10 was the fourth most impacted country in the East / Horn of Africa region only behind Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia. Government also rolled out mass testing in virus hot spots, borders remain shut and a ban on public gatherings continues.

Primary and secondary school students in Kenya will only return to school in 2021, the Education Ministry announced on Tuesday morning.

Subsequently, terminal exams for both levels – the Kenya Primary Certificate Exams, and the Kenya Secondary Certificate Exams – have also been cancelled.

The decision is based on the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic in the East African country. There are over 8,000 confirmed cases as at June 6.

President Kenyatta on the same day announced the partial lifting of a curfew on hotspots whiles a number of restrictions were also eased.

The president at the time only mentioned that despite places of worship being allowed to reopen, Sunday and Islamic weekend schools were to remain closed.

A number of countries across Africa have opted for a gradual reopening of school, more often allowing final year students back to prepare for exams.