PARENTS OBJECT TO SCHOOLS OPENING AMID SPIKE IN COVID CASES
SOMEparents have objected to the Ministry of General Education’s decision to open schools next week fearing the impact it would have on Covid-19 cases which keep rising and more deaths are recorded.
In an interview yesterday, Ms Matilda Longwe of Mtendere Township in Lusaka quetioned why the ministry was rushing to open the schools when Covid cases were rising.
Ms Longwe said the ministry should just wait and allow time for an assesment of the situation and trajectory of infections witnessed in the recent past.
Ms Longwe said the Covid-19 pandemic was deadly, and government should take stringent measures to ensure that safety measures had been put in place at all learning institutions.
Another parent, Ms Charity Mtonga said last year when Zambia recorded the first two cases of Covid-19, the President was very quick to close schools and learning resumed after they had put everything in order.
She said Government must not hurry to open schools next week because if they go ahead, then they should expect a disaster in the country.
Ms Mtonga said even if there are examination classes that would be sitting for their examinations this year, there is need for the government to just revise the school curriculum calendar.
“As a parent I am very concerned and against the idea of Government wanting to open schools despite seeing the rise in infections and how people are dying, it does not matter even if schools open late for the sake of ssving many lives, said Ms Mtonga.
However, General Education Permanent Secretary Jobbicks Kalumba has said schools would be opened next Monday because they are the safest places for learners,
Speaking on ZNBC’s Sunday Interview, Dr Kalumba said the problem was in the homes where there was little adherence to Covid-19 guidelines and not in schools.
He maintained that learning institutions were the safest places for learners despite the surging cases of Covid-19.
“Schools are safer than homes. They are safest so far. The problem of non-adherence is at homes not school,” he said.
Dr Kalumba said that there was no single case that was recorded among learners countrywide.
He said every step had been taken to guarantee the safety of pupils in schools, adding that he would meet with his counterpart at the Ministry of Health, Dr Kennedy Malama to see how they would work together to provide the safety of learners.
He said the school calendar would not be disturbed as long as all learning institutions continued to adhere to Covid-19 health guidelines.
“We don’t want to close the schools again because last year, more than a thousand girls became pregnant due to closure of schools as a result of Covid-19,” he said.
He also said Government had procured enough computers for secondary schools which were being distributed.