By Desire Tshuma
Education Coalition of Zimbabwe (ECOZI) on Tuesday 29 September held it’s the third quarter back-to-school campaign at Cresta lodge in Harare to discuss further on the safe learning environment in schools during the COVID-19 era
The campaign was based on the role of the civil society organizations on how best they can help in creating safety in the learning institutions as Coronavirus is still on the rise.
Speaking at the event, Chief Director of the Curriculum Development and Technical Services in the ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Mr. JT Dewah said the government through the ministry has made a national inspection to see that all educational institutions are safe for re-opening.
”The government is going to procure Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for all learning institutions through NatPharm and classes are going to open in three phases, in phase one, classes will be open for sixty days, phase two forty days and final phase three for twenty-day,s” said Mr. Dewah.
He went further and explained that all classes will close on 18 December 2020 for this term and the first term for 2021 will begin on January 4.
Schools were forced to close due to the outbreak of COVID-19 on March 24 and they have been re-opened, starting with Cambridge examination candidates on September 14 then Zimsec candidates for 2020 resumed classes on Monday 28 September.
Speaking at the same event Honourable Priscilla Misiairabwi Mushonga, representing the parliamentary portfolio on education, said the government has put all COVID-19 protection measures in place to make sure that both learners and teachers are safe in the learning institutions.
Communications specialist and public relations for ECOZI, Miss Mercy Mangwana elaborated on the importance of the civil society organizations’ role in the fight in protecting learning institutions.
”Every citizen has a role to play so that we can eliminate this pandemic, your participation in this fight is everyone’s task if we are to win this war,” said Mangwana.
Coronavirus began in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and it spread to all nations on the globe resulting in the death of more than one million people globally up to this day.