‘Zim can’t lose 2021 academic year’

The year 2020 has been one tough year!
Many industries suffered and are still figuring out ways of staying afloat and recovering post-Covid-19 but the education sector in Zimbabwe has been devasted.
Besides being one of the most affected, it was one of the shortest school calendar years in history. Schools close tomorrow.
Out of an average of 280 school days, students, who had the most learning days averaged a little over a hundred days, that is according to Government recommended learning days, which were never followed.
Had Government plans been followed, exam classes were going to have 60 more days of learning, while those in the second phase and third phase were going to attend school for 40 and 30 more days respectively.
But then teachers went on industrial action, which dragged on for months, meaning only a few dedicated ones afforded their students time to learn, with the bulk conducting extra lessons to earn a living.
Lack of monitoring at schools led to a spate of immoral behaviour which saw videos circulated on social media, prompting many parents to pull their children from schools.
Some students in exam classes only went back for their final tests, while some non-writing classes stayed at home indefinitely. A handful of students managed to attend school with a large number staying at home.
Upon full schools opening – students had to be grouped so as to maintain a healthy number of learners per class to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Some students only attended school twice per week, which translates to less than 10 days of learning since re-opening.
It seems all they did was go back to school to risk contracting Covid-19. As it stands, 558 students contracted Covid-19 during their few days at school causing widespread panic.
Many are worried about how the students can safely return into communities without endangering the general population.
Teachers’ unions have quizzed Government on how it plans to safeguard the general population from possible infection, especially when it comes to students who are coming from hard hit boarding schools like John Tallach.
A second wave of Covid-19 is also here. Will it be safe to open schools on January 4 as stipulated by the Ministry of Education?
Government is yet to notify stakeholders on how they will protect students and teachers.
“To say schools will open on January 4 is irresponsible, we will be pressing a disaster button,” Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Raymond Majongwe told Nhau.
“…our possibly infected students and staff will return to school posing danger of a great wave of new infections. Saying all students, ECDs included, will return to school in January is just illogical.”
Majongwe said they should be measures to curb an even more widespread infection in schools.
If anything, people are worried. There is no simple solution to the question of Covid-19 and how it is likely to affect even more students next year.
Government simply does not have the answers. It failed to follow its own standard operating procedures set before schools reopened this year, it is incapacitated to implement it next year.
“Government should invest more in safety in schools before declaring opening dates. Our schools have become the centers of mass transmission of the coronavirus, the Government should act more responsibly and save lives,” said Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), national president Obert Masaraure.
Parents simply cannot afford to subsidise, in terms of health requirements. They too are hard hit by a failing economy.
Some of them lost jobs and sources of income during the pandemic and are barely getting by.
Some schools have already sent parents an absurd list of requirements from students returning in January, something many will not be able to afford.
Among the requirements is a long list of stationery and textbooks, brooms mutton cloth and excessive number of detergents and cleaning material, all which used to be bought and paid for from school fees, Government, and NGO subsidies.
To say students, stay at home is also a decision that cannot be taken lightly considering how great they have already been affected. It would have been nice to have a vaccine, but then it may be over a year till countries like Zimbabwe can access it.
Zimbabwe is banking on its foreign supporters and the United Nations through World Health Organisation to get the crucial doses, but then this will only happen after the moneyed supporters are done vaccinating their own populations.
There is no simple solution, but hopes are one will be found before the January 4 opening of schools, otherwise, the 2021 academic year will be lost as well. Nhau/Indaba