Zimbabwean Government Defers Reopening Of Schools As COVID-19 Cases Surge

by PH December 31, 2020, 10:33 am

HARARE, ZIMBABWE - JANUARY 27: A teacher and students are seen during a lesson at a classroom of the makeshift schools to access affordable school lessons as they contend with a comatose national economy in Harare, Zimbabwe on January 27, 2020. Scores of pupils have no choice but to drop government or council schools in the southern African country as school fees have been shooting up now and then amid galloping inflation. As a way out, they turned to attending courses at makeshift schools to evade the astronomical fees. (Photo by Wilfred Kajese/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The Zimbabwean government on Wednesday announced the postponement of schools reopening as COVID-19 cases surge, coupled with the threat of flooding posed by Cyclone Chalane.

The schools were supposed to reopen for the first term of 2021 on January 4.

Secretary for Primary and Secondary Education Tumisang Thabela said in a notice to learners, parents and other stakeholders that public examinations would still proceed as scheduled on January 5.

“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education would like to advise its valued learners, parents, guardians and other stakeholders that in light of the surge in COVID-19 infections and the new and more contagious variants of the disease as well as the threat posed by Cyclone Chalane, government has seen it fit to deviate from the previously announced 2021 school calendar that directed schools to open on Jan. 4, 2021,” Thabela said.

She said new opening dates would be announced in due course as the government monitored the situation.

The announcement also came as one teachers’ union filed an application at the High Court raising concerns over the opening of schools in the middle of the pandemic.

After a lull in which the country went for days without new infections and deaths being recorded, Zimbabwe has lately experienced a surge, with the Ministry of Health and Child Care reporting 177 new cases and five deaths on Tuesday.

To date, the country has recorded 13,325 cases, including 359 deaths and 11,067 recoveries.

Cyclone Chalane, which has since downgraded to a tropical depression, hit Zimbabwe from Mozambique early on Wednesday and continuous rains are expected in the country until January 1.