Zimbabwe is in the midst of a third wave that seems to be now subsiding. Schools were set to reopen on the 28th of June for the second term but that could not happen as cases were still high. The government kept postponing the reopening of schools and even now it’s not yet clear when schools will reopen. There are however rumours and indications that, just like in 2020, there might not be a second term this year.
The government recently ordered schools to make preparations to reopen but as already noted there is no opening date yet. Instead senior officials from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) as well as Health Ministry officials have been deployed to schools to assess their readiness to reopen.
The truth though is that almost all the days that had been allocated for the second term are gone. We just have a few weeks left.
As a ministry, all I can say is that we are ready for opening and we are just waiting for the President to announce the opening dates. I can’t comment on the issue of second term because it is up to the President but it’s true that from our initial calendar most of the days of second term have been eaten away by the lockdown.
A statement made by an unamed official in MoPSE
This means that it’s unlikely there will be a second term this year.
