Education ministry responds to reports stating Class 8 pupils of a Kisumu school died of COVID-19 and were ‘secretly buried’

The Ministry of Education has dismissed reports doing the rounds on social media suggesting four Class Eight pupils at a Kisumu boarding school died of COVID-19 in the last two weeks.

The reports further allege that two teachers from the same unnamed primary school are receiving treatment at the ICU facility of a hospital in Kisumu.

The reports claimed that the Ministry of Education, though its Kisumu County offices, was attempting to hide the information from leaking to the media.

Kisumu County Director of Education, Isaac Antebe, however, states that the reports are untrue after an independent probe was conducted.

“This office conducted a survey in all our boarding primary schools, both public and private. Findings are that there are no reported cases of deaths due to COVID-19 as reported by social media in any of our boarding primary schools since the partial reopening of schools on October 5, 2020. In addition, the County Director of Public Health in Kisumu and the County Director, TSC confirmed that no teacher had been reported to be in the ICU over COVID-19 as of November 25, 2020,” said Antebe in a letter addressed to different Education officials in Kisumu.