Schools to close early

GOVERNMENT yesterday hinted on schools closing early for the second term to accommodate harmonised elections scheduled for July 30.

The schools opened on May 8 for the second term and are supposed to close on August 9.

In an interview on the sidelines of the official opening of the Bulawayo Book Fair, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Professor Paul Mavima said elections had a disruptive impact on schools. The book fair was attended by educationists, school heads, publishers and booksellers. Minister Mavima said he will seek an approval for an early closure of schools at the next Cabinet meeting. President Mnangagwa on Wednesday proclaimed July 30 as the country’s harmonised election date.

“We know that it will be disruptive for elections to run when schools are open,” he said.

“This is something that we are going to present to Cabinet. Maybe we can close schools a week or so before elections since most of our schools are polling stations.”

Prof Mavima said the ministry will find a way of compensating learners for the lost learning time.

“We will deal with that in an administrative way,” he said.

“Our permanent secretary (Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango) will be working on that. We may close a week before the elections and then work out how we can compensate the pupils for the lost time. Many teachers are likely to be engaged as polling officers, which again will disrupt the pupils’ learning.

“In the event the schools close early, they will likely open early for the third term to compensate for the lost time.”