The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has confirmed that schools will open on September 4 as planned, disregarding rumours on social media about a delay until September 12. This decision comes despite teachers’ calls for a postponement due to increased political tensions following the disputed elections. In a statement seen by Pindula News, the Ministry emphasized that any official changes regarding school openings would be communicated through formal channels and not through social media. Read the statement:
SCHOOLS OPENING
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education wishes to confirm that there is no deviation from the original school calendar. The general public is hereby informed that as announced before the Third Term begins on 4 September 2023 and ends on 1 December 2023. There has been no change to the calendar and for any official news concerning the school calendar, formal channels of communication will be used, not social media.
For general queries and enquiries, members of the public are advised to contact their local Districts and Provincial Education Offices as well as Ministry’s toll free line 317.
Teachers yesterday appealed to the government to consider postponing the opening of schools for the upcoming third term due to increased political tensions following the disputed harmonised elections. Concerns were raised about the safety of staff and children, especially after the opposition party threatened protests over the election outcome.
Previous instances have seen students and teachers caught up in violent protests. The main opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) aims to pressure for a fresh election supervised by regional bodies like the Southern African Development Community and the African Union. Teachers’ unions expressed worry about the volatile situation, emphasizing that opening schools under the current political environment would be reckless. They recommended a one-week postponement to allow political tensions to ease. While social media circulated reports of a school opening delay until September 12, the Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Edgar Moyo, dismissed the rumours as false and affirmed that schools would open as scheduled.