NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 10 – Several Bookshops and uniform centres in Nairobi’sCentral Business District (CBD) remained closed Saturday with others experiencing minimal shopping despite the scheduled resumption of school for Grade 4, Grade 8 and Class 8 students on Monday.
The three classes are expected to resume in-person teaching after a nearly seven-month break triggered by the indefinite closure of schools in March following the outbreak of coronavirus.
A spotcheck by Capital FM revealed few parents walked into the centers to purchase revision books with Class 8 and Form 4 students expected to resume school with preparation for Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) assessments in March.
Tony Kisaka, a bookseller at one of the shops confirmed that the business is unexpectedly low with the few who visited limiting their purchases to Class 8 and Form 4 books.
“As for now the business is low, parents are mostly buying set books and revision books, this year publishers will suffer since we are not giving them orders,” Kisaka said.
“Parents are only buying revision books and stationery, they are coming few numbers for the last two days. The business has been shaky since the pandemic struck the country,” another books seller, Faith Amina, added.
The situation was the same for uniform shop owners who said sales remained low despite the reduction of prices for most school outfits.
“Uniform buying is slow because people have no money while others have lost jobs, we have reduced prices but its still slow,” Mahendra Shah, a uniform dealer told Capital FM.
Despite the low turnout in school stationery shops, a few parents expressed readiness to resume school on Monday saying it will prevent the possibility of their children repeating the same class next year.
“The reopening of schools is okay, most students are concerned with repeating classes because they feel like its dragging them behind, the only problem is that parents do not have money,” a parent who identified herself as Millicent said.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha announced the resumption of in-person learning for Grade 4, Class 8 and Form 4, on Monday October 5, in a move that caught many parents caught many parents and guardians by surprise.
Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) assessments for Class 8 pupils will start on March 22, 2021 and end on March 24, 2021, while Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams will start on March 25, 2021 and end on April 16, 2021.
