ZUPCO will reportedly exclusively provide transport for teachers and pupils once schooling resumes next week, Sunday News reports. According to the publication, the parastatals is working with the education ministry to ensure that learners and teachers are safely transported to and from school.
The development was confirmed by ZUPCO CEO Everisto Madangwa who said;
We are readying ourselves for the re-opening of schools so that come schools opening our fleet will be ready to transport them to and from school. We will actually have a special arrangement reserved for all the students and teachers
The education deputy minister Edgar Moyo said they were working hard to ensure that transportation of learners and teachers is conducted in a smooth manner:
Our aim is that we create a smooth way for the learners, teachers and ancillary staff from their homes to school and back to their home. We do not want a situation that this becomes a leeway for the spiking of Covid-19 cases by exposing them hence we are working at an inter-Ministerial level to ensure that the necessary logistical arrangements are put in place especially regarding the issue of transport.
We had the same special arrangement when we had the June exams, so we will continue from that this time around, it will be more of a special arrangement because we want these examinations to be held without any notable hiccup
Concern has been raised over how students and teachers will commute particularly in urban areas since the government maintained a ban on kombies since it prohibited them in March 2020. The government did not shed more light on the possibility of commuter omnibuses ferrying pupils and teachers to and from school.
More: Sunday News