TEACHERS have written to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and
the government setting tough conditions for the re-opening of schools.
The Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) wrote to
Mnangagwa while Progressive Teachers Union (PTUZ) submitted their position
paper to the Primary and Secondary Education ministry.
The teachers demanded Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs)
for all teachers and learners.
“It is a fact that sooner or later, schools are going to
re-open. We are, therefore, proposing the following minimum conditions to be in
place as much as is practically possible when schools re-open: The ministry
should ensure that all teachers and learners have all necessary PPEs of the
very minimal standard such as disposable gloves and re-usable masks,” PTUZ said in their position paper.
“There should also be adequate test kits for all schools,
no matter how remote they are from urban centres.”
PTUZ said before schools re-open, teachers should be
trained on handling and managing learners and other stakeholders during the
course of their duties with a view to eradicating the possibility of
transmission of the disease.
“All schools to be compelled to have sanitisers and
thermometers at entry points to the school, every classroom and staffroom.
“The government should pay a meaningful risk allowance to
teachers in view of the fact that they are frontline workers in the fight
against the disease since it is an uncontestable fact that teachers interact
with thousands of children from a diversity of backgrounds per day.”
Teachers must be immediately de-congested through splitting
and lowering the current high teacher-pupil ratios in schools.
“We want to state without any equivocation that our members
are not prepared to take the risk of teaching classes with more than 20
learners for nothing as the consequences are dire. As a union, it would be an
abdication of responsibility if we sacrifice the lives of our members at the
altar of national expediency.
“The government should subsidise the fees of all learners
by at least 50 percent in view of the fact that most parents were unable to
scrounge for money during the lockdown. This should be done for at least one
term,” PTUZ added.
Recently, permanent secretary in the Primary and Secondary
Education ministry Tumisang Thabela said Mnangagwa will announce the re-opening
dates of schools.
In a letter to Mnangagwa, Zimta demanded the government to
set up a national programme that will educate teachers on to deal with cases of
Covid-19 screening at school level, and provide necessary equipment needed to
execute the same.
Zimta added that the government must ensure accessibility
of Internet in remote and public schools so that e-learning can be accessed by
all during the era of the Covid-19 pandemic. Daily News
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