In a statement to newsrooms on Friday, Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang (pictured) acknowledged the desire of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) to have minimum movements of the population so that they may get as many people as possible in different households during that time/FILE – MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 9 – The Ministry of Education has extended August school holiday to September 2 to pave way for a national census slated for August 24 and 25.
The ministry had earlier set August 26 as the opening date for the third term.
In a statement to newsrooms on Friday, Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang acknowledged the desire of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) to have minimum movements of the population so that they may get as many people as possible in different households during that time.
“The date for the census has coincided with the opening date for third term which is August 26, 2019. For the forthcoming census to be successful, it is important that we reschedule the opening date for Term 3, to start on September 2 and end on October 25,” a part of the statement read.
Kipsang further stated that the change of dates will enhance data quality as all students will be at home.
KNBS will for the first time conduct an electronic countrywide census later this month at the cost of Sh18.5 billion.
According to Director General Zachary Mwangi, all is set for the paperless exercise that will be undertaken from August 24 to 25.
While giving an update on the forthcoming national census on July 8, he stated that the computer program to be used for collation of census data has already been designed, developed and tested.
“We are very confident about our data-capture program,” the KNBS DG stated during a briefing at the Kenyatta International Convention Center in Nairobi.
Moi University and the Jomo Kenya University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) have already assembled 164,700 data-capture devices at costing Sh15,000 each.
Mwangi said the decision was deliberate because they believed that the country had the capacity to assemble the devices.
He further added that it was also a way to create employment for young people.
“Build Kenya, buy Kenya, because if you go to Moi and JKUAT today, you will see the kind of a job those young people are doing. You will also be impressed. So, that was a very strategic decision that we made because we have the capacity and some of these things have been done before in our universities,” he said.
Mwangi revealed that the census will also capture agricultural activities, a component that was not captured in the 2009 census.
The 2019 national census will be the first under the 2010 Constitution.
The last census was conducted in 2009.
