School Games: KSSHA boss Indimuli calls for consensus

Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KSSHA) chairman Indimuli Kahi has called for a collective involvement of all education stakeholders on how sporting activities can resume in schools.

While the Kenya Secondary School Sports Association (KSSSA) and Kenya Primary Schools Sports Association (KPSSA) are the two bodies mandated to organise games in schools, Indimuli says the two should reach a consensus with the other associations in the education sector, to chat the way forward.

This comes after KSSSA chairman Peter Orero, in an interview with a local station, hinted they would meet with the Ministry of Education to discuss on how to resume the games.

“While we’ve given them (KSSSA) the mandate to organise and run school games,  everyone in the sector will have a say because we’re in an unprecedented crisis brought about by coronavirus and we’ll not wake up and want to have school games returned.

“We should involve all the associations including teachers’ unions and reach a consensus before we approach the ministry because if KSSSA single handedly goes to the ministry without everyone else involved,  the ministry might be reluctant to give us the green light. We should persuade them in unison,” Indimuli told Citizen Digital.

The KSSHA boss says resumption of inter-schools games will require maximum discipline and draconian guidelines to ensure safety of learners and also prevent the rise of infections.

“While I’m a proponent of the return of the school games because of the role they play in students’ school life, I’m also looking at it in a positive way because if we return the games, what about the safety of the players involved and teachers?” he paused.

President Uhuru Kenyatta through Executive Order signed Sunday morning banned schools’ co-curricular activities for 90 days, a day before learning resumed countrywide following a forced-stop in March last year due to the novel coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the International Schools Sport Federation (ISF) president Laurent Petrynka has urged member countries not to overlook games as learning activities resume in many parts of the world.

Through the ISF’s Twitter handle, Petrynka said the federation is committed to offer support to its members to help face the pandemic.