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- Who will invigilate Covid-19+ students?
- Candidate registration process in disarray
As schools make final arrangements for the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec) public examinations starting tomorrow, teachers’ unions insist Government is making a huge mistake.
They argue that Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are not being followed in the face of Covid-19 and that schools are unprepared in terms of provision of necessary personal protective equipment (PPE), and proper sanitation facilities including availability of water.
Over 1.2 million students registered for the end-of-year public examinations and teachers’ unions say it is unsafe to go ahead.
However, Zimsec has said it has come up with a mechanism for examination candidates who test positive for Covid-19 to be allowed to sit for their exams under special health protocols.
Teachers’ unions on the other hand are urging their members to refuse invigilating affected students and leave it for officials from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
“Our schools have failed to meet the bare minimum levels of safety in the face of Covid-19. Government prepared SOPs cannot be adhered to because of underfunding.
“The ZW$600 million for safe schools opening remains unaccounted for. Teachers and learners must stay home to avoid mass infections,” the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said.
According to a survey conducted by the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), only 30 percent national compliance has been recorded, meaning learners and staff are at great risk.
They have proposed that exams be shelved until next year.
“We are conducting an evaluation of schools’ compliance to Government SOPs in the face of Covid-19. Results are pointing to a disaster. National average is at 30 percent compliance. Our schools are ideal homes for mass transmission of coronavirus.
“We recommend as captured here: Postponement of November 2020 public examinations to 2021. Immediate withdrawal of all phase 3 learners from schools. Urgent funding of SOPs. All stakeholders monitoring of distribution of Covid-19 resources. Shifting all teachers and learners with underlying conditions to remote learning.
“Escalating remote learning initiatives to bridge gap of access of education. An all stakeholders’ engagement on revising our plan of sustaining education during emergencies. Dialogue between Government and teachers’ unions to diffuse hostilities and engender a cordial working relationship.”
ARTUZ has vowed not to take part in the examinations process if Government pays a deaf ear to their demands.
“We will not invigilate unprepared learners who are being forced to write public examinations… For the love of our learners and our education we will stay away from the sham examinations.”
While Government has allowed all students exposed to the pandemic to write in isolation under the supervision of staff who have also tested positive for the virus, PTUZ is urging teachers to ignore Government’s plan and stay away from invigilating those who have tested positive.
“We would like to advise teachers not to invigilate Covid-19 positive students without the necessary training or PPEs. That job should be left to personnel from the ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Head Office including the Minister and Permanent Secretary. That way we will see how SOPs are being adhered to.
“We have no reason to believe teachers and learners are safe. SOPs are being circumvented because there are no resources to follow them. Where is the $600m Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education got from Mthuli Ncube? They have a reputation for returning funds to Treasury.”
PTUZ has challenged Government to provide leadership.
“Schools have no water, sanitisers and adequate masks. The outbreaks witnessed at some Bulawayo and Chinhoyi schools are not isolated cases. Government needs to act now.”
To date three schools have been hit by the virus causing them to totally lock down.
Chinhoyi High School last week became the third school in the country to be sealed off following an outbreak at the school with 57 learners infected with the virus.
According to the PTUZ, Covid-19 is not the only problem affecting these exams.
“Zimsec statements of entry now dispensed, but things just got worse. Wrong spellings of candidate names, wrong components registered for, and no time to correct that … how does that issue get solved when exams have already started,” they queried.
Another issue is the requirement that all students carry national IDs to sit for exams yet the Registrar-General’s Office is overwhelmed with long queues being the order of the day. Nhau/Indaba
