Provision of Basic Education in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya

The closure of all institutions of learning by the government in March 2020 upon the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a paradigm shift in education. Teaching and learning moved from face-to-face to the virtual mode to enable schools to complete their first-term syllabus. Despite this provision for continuation, learning ceased for many learners, particularly those from disadvantaged households and areas considered to be marginalized. This paper explores the ways in which COVID-19 has affected the provision of basic education in Kenya. Refl ections in the paper indicate that while school closures and the subsequent shift to online teaching were well intended, they apparently exacerbated some already existing gender and regional inequalities and revealed the wide digital divide across the learners’ socio-demographic conditions. These challenges notwithstanding, the paper depicts the pandemic as having presented an opportunity for deeper refl ection on the provision of basic education, particularly the demand for flexibility in modes of delivery, which makes the integration of emerging technologies a requirement rather than a choice.