Materials for 1,600 West Pokot learners offline

 

The digital divide - lack of internet and electricity - has hampered remote learning at home for poor students countrywide since schools closed in mid-March because of Covid-19.

In West Pokot, however, more than 1,600 learners from vulnerable families will receive materials to help them learn at home before schools reopen. The date has not be set.

Families in Sigor, Kapenguria and Chepareria, among other areas, will get  workbooks, stationery, textbooks and revision books so they can follow lessons by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.

On Monday, the Ministry of Education and Unicef started distributing materials to primary and secondary school learners in Kapenguria. Distribution will continue across other vulnerable homes.

Unicef said donations aim to keep the children on par with others learning via radio, television and internet.

Distribution is very late.

Unicef said distribution already has started in other counties and will it pay special to children with disabilities.

“Unicef is working with partners to provide lessons specifically for children with disabilities, especially those involving physical activities,”  Unicef education officer Elizabeth Waitha said.

Since schools were ordered closed, many students from rural and other vulnerable households have been unable to study online due to lake of internet connectivity and electricity.

A Unicef report said one in three children has missed out on remote learning during school closures.

Three-quarters of children without access to remote learning live in rural areas; others live in urban informal settlements.

“For at least 463 million children worldwide whose schools closed due to Covid-19, there was no such a thing as remote learning,” Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore said.

Even when children have the technology and tools at home, they may not be able to learn remotely due to competing factors at home.

They include pressure to do chores, being forced to work, a poor learning environment and lack of support in using online or broadcast curriculum.

Eight in 10 Kenyan children said they have learnt little or nothing since schools closed, a Save the Children survey said.

It said two-thirds of children have had no contact with teachers since schools closed.

The ‘Protect a Generation Report 2020’ survey said Covid-19 has caused "the largest education emergency in history, with 1.7 million children not returning to school this year globally".