Nick Mangwana the permanent secretary in the ministry of information, publicity and broadcasting services ( we will just call him Secretary Mangwana from now on), has been quoted by Health Times as saying that Zimbabwe’s schools will probably only reopen in August because of the coronavirus outbreak that has the entire world including Zimbabwe in lockdown.
What he said
We still need to bring people to classes and whatever number of days that have been lost in the current school calendar would have to be covered.
It may mean that we are going to open schools in around maybe August and go all the way to Christmas with no breaking between.
I am not saying this is what we are going to do but we are still talking so that we ensure learners recover.
The school calendar is one of the most affected in our country because of the lockdown and because of the virus.
The ministry of primary and secondary education is looking working ensuring that those who can do things online right now can continue learning.
Nick Mangwana speaking at a webinar media training which was organised by UNDP, Higherlife Foundation and Ministry of Information
This will mean no June exams
June examinations are almost likely to be postponed as things stand. In fact if Secretary Mangwana’s musings end up becoming the government’s plan it’s hard to see how June exams will be written. There is currently very limited learning taking place at the moment as schools are closed. Most students cannot afford or are not able to get online for some reasons so online lessons for the majority of students are out of the question making preparations difficult.
