President William Ruto has directed the Ministry of Education to postpone the reopening of all schools until further notice.

He gave the directive on Friday during his national address.

"The Ministry of Education is directed to postpone the dates of the reopening of all schools in the country for the second term until further notice," the President said.

The postponement, Ruto said, follows a warning by the meteorological department that indicated that the flooding situation is likely to get dire with the ongoing rains.

"Meteorological reports paint a dire picture. The rains will persist increasing both in duration and intensity for the rest of this month and possibly after," he said.

"The Cyclone is predicted to cause torrential rain, strong winds and powerful and dangerous waves, which could potentially disrupt marine activities in the Indian Ocean and settlements along the Kenyan coast."

The new directive comes barely three days before when schools were scheduled to reopen on May 6.

The schools were initially set for reopening on April 29.

The reopening was, however, postponed by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu due to heavy rains Monday morning.

Machogu said they had received data that some schools have been adversely affected by the ongoing floods.

He said sending students and staff to the affected schools would be putting their lives at risk if they were to reopen schools.

"The devastating effects of the rains in some of the schools are so severe that it will be imprudent to risk the lives of learners and staff before water-tight measures are put in place to ensure adequate safety of all affected school communities.

"Based on this assessment, the Ministry of Education has resolved to postpone the reopening of all primary and secondary schools by one week, to Monday, May 6, 2024," Machogu said.

In a circular dated May 2, to all regional, county and subcounty education directors, Machogu had given directions and measures to put in place ahead of the May 6, reopening.

He had, however, said that severely affected schools would remain closed for the time being.

"In the meantime, the management of these schools should come up with strategies to recover lost time when learning resumes," he said.

"In some cases, the school infrastructure may be unsafe for use by learners thereby affecting their readiness to resume learning, especially on sanitation facilities. This poses a health risk due to contamination of water sources, which may lead to an outbreak of waterborne diseases. BOMS, headteachers and principals are directed that students and staff should not be hosted in life-threatening buildings."

The CS further directed all school Boards of Management to submit status reports of their institution to the County Education Boards, detailing any damages as a result of the rains and mitigation measures, by May 8, 2024.

CEBs have also until May 10 to submit comprehensive reports to the Cabinet Secretary.