Kenya Secondary Schools Sport Association (KSSSA) officials are desperately trying to map out a return of inter-schools competition barely five weeks to the end of the second term, following the Ministry of Education’s green light for the reintroduction of co-curricular activities.
KSSSA chairman Peter Orero says time factor is their biggest challenge in their quest to put the show back on the road hinting that they could be forced to overlook some of the levels to match up the championship with the school calendar.
The school sports governing body is in an awkward situation on how to draw the calendar of events consisting over ten disciplines for the remaining weeks of the second term.
“Within one week we will converge to discuss on how to restart the championship although there is a challenge because the time remaining could prove not enough for all the levels to be competed. The disciplines are many and we might decide to bypass some of the levels,” Orero said.
Through a circular released last week by the Education Principal Secretary Julius Jwan to Regional, County and Sub-county Directors of Education, the ministry authorised the safe resumption of inter-school activities in Kenyan institutions.
“We’ve done rigorous training on health protocols to ensure when we resume we have a Covid-19 free championships. We’ve met in the national level, county, sub county and even in schools to give out all the protocols to be followed. There will be challenges on how to ensure the competitions are not risky but we will try our best to ensure we follow the Ministry of Health guidelines,” he added.
The ministry bowed to pressure from education stakeholders who opined that lack of co-curricular activities was behind the increasing student unrest in the country.
Also, they feared most of the potent talents in school would go down in the drains as for many years, primary and secondary school games have been a springboard for many budding talents to grow their careers to international levels.
These championships have also been hunting grounds for scouts from different disciplines who identify promising players and recruit them to their respective clubs.
