Teachers have implored the government to cancel the 2021 First Term so that there is adequate time to prepare infrastructure ahead of the Second Term.
Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira said schools are not ready to offer a safe environment for teachers and pupils amid the COVID-19 pandemic and this necessitates the complete cancellation of the First Term. Said Zhou:
We wrote to the Government as PTUZ on December 15 last year with a plea to them to consider opening schools for Second Term so that we completely cancel the First Term.
This will give us enough time to prepare in terms of infrastructure and financial resources.
We have students that are still sitting for their examinations and we anticipate the whole process of marking and publishing the results will take the whole of this year.
Schools were instructed to come up with alternative spaces but most especially those in the rural areas do not have the capacity.
Government can assist by building prefabs in such schools and this needs planning.
Meanwhile, Private Schools Association of Zimbabwe secretary-general, Loice Magweba, said they will ask the government to allow schools with the capacity to reopen for the First Term.
This comes after the government last week indefinitely postponed the reopening of schools for the First Term, which was due to start tomorrow.