Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe
Teachers Association have declared that they are going to take ZIMSEC to court
over its insistence to go ahead with June exams in the wake of Covid-19 without
putting necessary protective measures in place, H-Metro can reveal.
According to a memo supposedly written by the Permanent
secretary Tumisang Thabela, to provincial education directors, school heads,
examination class teachers, school health coordinators and invigilators are
supposed to undertake a Covid-19 training as schools prepare for re-opening.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary general
Raymond Majongwe said there is chaos on the way forward between the unions and
the parliamentary portfolio committee on one hand and ZIMSEC together with the
Ministry of Primary and Secondary education on the other hand.
“We have the case of the right hand doing what the left
hand is saying don’t, the parliamentary portfolio committee has recommended
that the examination board should go ahead with exams when it is safe to do so,
it not yet safe yet they have remained insistent so our union has resolved to
take ZIMSEC to court and we will have our papers ready by the end of the week.
“We are the implementers and executioners in the education
sectors, ZIMSEC hasn’t assured us of our safety yet. We do want to proceed to
exams but our safety is of concern, are the PPEs, sanitisers and extra
furniture ready for schools re-opening.
“We will only get back to work when they satisfy us,
ZIMSEC’s job is to facilitate exams, we are the ones who deal with the students
so when we say it’s unsafe, we know what we are referring to as we are the ones
who know the setup of our classrooms and how social distancing is impossible.
“As for the training, we don’t know what they want to train
us because so far, our concerns haven’t been addressed yet,” said Majongwe.
The ZIMSEC director Lazarus Nembaware revealed before the
parliamentary portfolio committee that 60 000 students are expected to sit for
the June 0’level exams while 5 700 are expected to sit for the A ‘level exam.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association national president Richard
Gundane also expressed concern over ZIMSEC’s intention to proceed with exams.
“ZIMSEC’s decision to proceed with exams is going to have
serious implications, it’s a bad decision which must not be implemented, we
made submissions to the ministry as well as to the parliament, in the wake of
Covid-19, and the environment isn’t conducive for students to be travelling to
exams centres and write exams.
“Mind you ZIMSEC wants to run exams while schools haven’t
resumed, exams can’t run without schools being open, they need to take heed of
the recommendations we have given them, with regard to the training that’s
ongoing, we discourage our teachers from engaging in harmful environments that
expose them to Covid-19, they should stay at home until its safe to get back at
work.
“We are also considering taking legal action against ZIMSEC
because forcing teachers to go back to work in this kind of environment amounts
to coercion so we will take the matter to court and let the courts decide the
way forward, and if we lose, we will go back for more dialogue because we
aren’t risking our lives,” he said.
The chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio for the
Ministry of Primary and Secondary education Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga
said they are happy that the ministry has undertaken training of ministry
personnel in preparation of the re-opening of schools.
Misihairabwi said this move by the ministry addresses one
of her committee’s concerns, which was lack of preparedness.
“We have seen the circular circulated by the ministry’s
permanent secretary over the training of ministry personnel in preparation of
the re-opening of schools amidst Covid-19, as the committee we weren’t stopping
them from operating per se, we were making recommendations and were concerned
over the lack of preparedness, so we are happy that they are training their
personnel.
“Training doesn’t mean they are opening immediately, they
can train to open in September, or next year, as long as Covid-19 is still
there, they need to get ready,” she said.
Misihairabwi, however, expressed great concern over ZIMSEC,
which is determined to go ahead with exams, which have been scheduled for June
29.
“We have problems with ZIMSEC, we hear they are intending
to proceed with exams, I’m not sure if they are trying to tell us to go to hell
or they have not heeded parliament’s recommendations, from the engagements we
have been having with them, we are not persuaded that they are ready for
schools re-opening.
“If they think they are ready, they should come forward and
convince us, they should tell us where the exams are going to be written, do
the teachers and invigilators have PPE, have they fumigated the classrooms and
examination papers, do they have the masks and sanitisers for the learners to
use when they get back to school,” queried Misihairabwi.
The chairperson also added that while parliament does not
have arresting powers and they can’t stop ZIMSEC from going ahead with exams
but the board will be held responsible for any infection of the learners and
their teachers.
“At law, I can’t stop or arrest ZIMSEC, parliament doesn’t
have that power, if they want to proceed with examinations they can do so but
they will be remembered for exposing learners to Covid-19 and they should take
responsibility for every child and teacher who is going to get infected by
their rushed decision,” she said. H Metro
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