COVID-19 AND LEARNING

ONCE again, Covid-19 has shown that it will con tinue to cause havoc and disrupt people’s lives just when things are expected to return to normalcy.

This time round, Government has postponed the re-opening of schools from January 10 to January 24, 2022 owing to Covid-19 upswing.

Minister of Education Douglas Siakalima said that the decision to move the opening date followed con sultations with the Ministry of Health.

It is not surprising that Government has had to take this route as a precautionary measure to pro tect not only learners but the teachers from being exposed.

If anything, the disruption in the school calen der so early in the year must also serve as a stark reminder to those people who have not taken the Covid-19 vaccination programme seriously.

Medical authorities throughout the world have re ported that most of the new infections are from the unvaccinated people.

It is surprising that even with scientific evidence, people have continued to doubt the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccination, thus endangering those around them.

Government has gone out of its way to make peo ple aware of the advantages of being vaccinated by even introducing the booster vaccines.

But as we reported at the weekend from selected centres in Lusaka, few people are coming forward to take the booster vaccination.

In an effort to stem the pandemic, the government has introduced a Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 12 years and above. But the turnout was gen erally poor.

Previously, vaccinations were restricted to those aged over 18.

We hope that with the delayed re-opening of schools, parents and guardians will ensure that they get their children vaccinated.

As Mr Siakalima, the delayed opening would allow for more learners to be vaccinated as a way of miti gating cases of Covid-19 especially among children.

He said that although they were prepared to re open as a ministry, the bottom-line was the danger that the children could be exposed to if schools opened.

We agree with the Minister that parents must ad vise learners who are eligible to get vaccinated to do so because the fourth wave does not discriminate against anyone.

Government should indeed be commended that vaccination for children has not been made man datory, but leaving the choice to parents who must give consent.

Covid-19 was initially confined to adults but the situation has changed, with children being infected and dying from the pandemic. The best defence therefore for the children is to have them vaccinated. It is important that children are vaccinated to ensure that they return to classrooms as soon as possible. Last year, valuable time was lost when learning was suspended for long periods.

The nation must not allow such a situation to be repeated.

Our appeal is to all parents to take seriously the health guidelines from the government in relation to Covid-19 if only to ensure that children spend more time in classrooms than home.

It is a fact that prolonged closure of schoolds dis advantages children from vulnerable homes who have no access to e-learning facilities.

PURSUING JUSTICE AND EQUITY WITH INTERGRITY