Harare, (New Ziana) – The government on Tuesday set 15 March as the schools opening date for the first term of 2021 for examination classes, with the rest of the students set to join a week later.
Outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe in March last year disrupted free flow of the school calendar, with students last having had a near normal term at the beginning of the 2020 first term.
Attempts during 2020 to re-open schools did not yield much success, as some schools recorded coronavirus infection cases, forcing government to abandon direct contact learning.
Since then, schools have been largely closed, except for examination writing classes.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa told a post Cabinet media briefing that the phased approach was meant to decongest schools.
“Cabinet agreed that the schools calendar for 2021 starts on a slightly phased approach with examination classes opening on 15th March and the rest on 22nd March 2021,” she said.
There was no mention of the dates when the schools will close.
At schools that are not able to accommodate all students in classes at the same time, due to the demand for distancing in line with Covid-19 protocols, students will attend classes in rotation, Mutsvangwa said.
“On the days when the students are not at school, learners must be engaged through strategies such as open distance learning and e-learning,” she said.
Following disruptions to the learning process, Mutsvangwa said the schools syllabi had been compressed “to facilitate accelerated coverage.”
“Both primary and secondary school levels will follow three levels of accelerated, compressed syllabus coverage,” she said.
The decision to re-open schools follows the easing of Covid-19 restrictions by government on Monday that saw the economy being re-opened, with freedom of movement for citizens largely restored except during curfew times from 22:00 to 05:30.
Zimbabwe has since March last year recorded 36 115 cases of infections and 1 468 deaths.
A rollout of Covid-19 vaccines is largely expected to reduce the number of fatalities going forward.
New Ziana
