A kind tout plying the Nairobi-Meru route refunds fare to students who were advised by felow passengers to go back home following Machogu's directive (Image Courtesy)

Several students have had their morning disrupted on Monday following a last-minute directive from the Education Minister, postponing the opening of schools today for the second term.

Schools were resuming today for the second term, after the 4 week April holiday. However, a directive issued by CS Mochogu past midnight today moved the opening day to May 6, owing to the ongoing “heavy rains” in the country.

The late-night communication, which has seen the government receive massive criticism, left some students stranded. Some students had already reported to their respective schools this morning while those schooling in counties outside Nairobi were already in transit.

“My daughter had already left with the 8am SGR to Mombasa. I only saw the letter from the Ministry at 9:30 am. We are still waiting for communication from the school to know what’s next. I don’t know why the government had to wait for the last minute!” a distraught Ann Mwende, shared.

Below are more reactions from parents shared on Twitter:

Dann: This really shows how much this Govt is out of touch with reality…total disregard for the Citizenry safety and Security… Zero empathy #Schools.

Regina phalange: Every week, Kenya Kwanza CSs compete for who’s gonna be the most incompetent that week. This week we have Dr. Ezekiel Machogu as the winner.

Ahmedkadar: Education CS Ezekiel Machogu is just so incompetent that him being in that ministry for an extra day gonna cost us all. How do you extend schools’ second term opening dates by one week when kids have already reported What happened to planning and preparation? Why are we like this?

SokoAnalyst: Ezekiel Machogu postponed the reopening of school past midnight, getting millions of parents, teachers, and learners unawares. Most learners who come from far areas away from their school had already started their journey to their respective schools.