The ManicaPost
SCHOOLS opened for the first term early this week to bring to an end almost three months of waiting after the December holidays.
Globally, countries have started to relax lockdown regulations previously put in place to control the spread of Covid-19.
Zimbabwe is not an exception.
During the long lay-off of pupils from schools, it emerged that the prolonged school closures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic presented an unprecedented challenge to children’s education, health and well-being worldwide.
The longer a pupil stays out of school, the higher their risk of dropping out.
According to recent statistics from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and Small and Medium Enterprises, 907 girls fell victim to unintended teen pregnancies and child marriages, while another 805 girls and 215 boys suffered sexual, physical, economic and emotional violence in Manicaland between March 2020 and January 2021.
The shocking statistics show that interrupting education services also has serious, long-term consequences for economies and societies,including increased inequality, poorer health outcomes and reduced social cohesion.
This goes to show the importance of the education system.
However, decisions to reopen schools should and are only being driven by available data and the safety measures put in place, as well as the need to address the concerns of pupils, parents, teachers and supporting staff.
This way, we can work on preventing a third wave of the virus.
School operatios should be consistent with all the other public health response measures within the respective communities.
In fact, it is crucial for schools to plan ahead and look at the additional measures they can put in place to help ensure pupils, teachers and supporting staff are safe from Covid-19.
Although available Covid-19 data suggests that children under the age of 18 years represent less than 10 percent of reported cases globally, with relatively few deaths compared to other age groups, the cases that were reported in some schools last year are an important public health lesson to all of us.
Children can be asymptomatic carriers of the virus, with the capacity to infect their older family members back home.
Therefore their safety at school should be a priority to the parents and school authorities.
As schools go about their business, resources should be availed for them to strengthen Covid-19 screening, rapid testing, monitoring and contact tracing.
So far, the Government has done quiet a lot in availing these resources to ensure the safety of pupils and their teachers.
However, more can still be done.
Particularly, most rural schools do not have access to running water.
In some instances, infrastructural challenges have seen classes of up to 70 students conducting lessons in one classroom, thereby making physical distancing impossible.
Therefore investments in schools’ infastructure are needed as soon as yesterday.
Given that some precious time was lost during the long holidays, examination sitting classes and their teachers should hit the ground running.
The pupils themselves should be commended for showing just how much they want to keep learning despite the plethora of challenges they are facing. With the support of their dedicated teachers and parents, the students have persisted with their lessons under difficult circumstances.
To complement the pupils’ efforts, schools should continue blending classroom instruction with radio and online lessons. Parents should also give extra support to their children at home by creating routines around their schoolwork.
Everyone has a role to play in shaping the future of the school children.
We should join hands to ensure a safe learning environment for them.
