By 
Progressive Teachers Union Zimbabwe has condemned government for prematurely reopening schools without the proper Covid-19 abatement equipment as evidenced by the recent sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, mostly in schools.
Zimbabwe to date has recorded 9,398 cases, 8,297 recoveries and 274 death.
In a statement DR Takavafira Zhou PTUZ President said government must learn to listen to professional advice rather than operate hap-hazardous muddling and meddling through.
“When we pointed out that schools were ill-prepared to abate Covid 19 pandemic, as a professional group of teachers, we were labelled agents of regime change. It is now crystal clear that whatever Minister Matema and perm secretary Thabela saw as semblance of preparation was nothing other than a tissue of misrepresentation,” he said.
Zhou also pointed that Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education propagandist by the name of Ndoro, continues belting and barraging a facade of lies on a daily basis.
“The bottom line is that the more than $600 million meant to procure and supply schools with covid abatement equipment never filtered to schools. More than 80% of schools do not have constant supply of water, thermometers, sanitisers, masks etc. Not even a single school has testing kits while social distance has remained a luxury than a pre-requisite, more so in light of bloated classes, infrastructural restrictions, and failure to recruit more 50 000 additional teachers needed to guarantee appropriate teacher: pupil ratio,”
He further added that Many other teachers and students are positive but have not yet been tested or are waiting for confirmation of results.
“It is dangerous for government to claim that the cases are minimal when it has no capacity to test all teachers, students and ancillary staff in schools,”
In this particular case the government wants to keep bars closed. Do these officials realise that Covid 19 is in schools not bars? We as PTUZ encouraged government to open bars (where majors are only allowed) first before they opened schools (where majoritarian are minors), but our candid advice was thrown out of the window.
He said the government insist learning must continue in schools even bellowing that covid 19 positive students will be allowed to write examination in their quarantined schools but they should consider students will not able to write exams.
“This is madness of the worst order. These officials think the covid 19 positive students are in their rightful mind to write stressful examinations most of whose content they have not covered? They also assume that any normal teacher can invigilate such students, let alone mark their papers without fear of getting infected with covid 19,”
“For the avoidance of doubt students are not ready for such examinations and enforcing writing of examinations by covid 19 positive students would be a violation of their rights and stressful. No teacher would invigilate and let alone mark exams from a centre known to have had covid 19 positive candidates, never ever unless such teachers would have gone mad and become careless with their health and safety,”
More than three schools have so far been sealed off after the authorities declared a health in Matebeleland North and Mashonaland West
Comments