(Last Updated on April 8, 2022 by zimdaily)
HARARE – The Government has banned holiday extra lessons to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Previously, schools would conduct holiday lessons usually for two weeks, allowing slow learners to catch up and also to cover areas of the syllabus that may have been left out during the term. However, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has sent officials to schools to ensure that extra lessons are not being conducted during the holiday. The Ministry’s spokesperson, Taungana Ndoro, said:
We can’t allow the holiday lesson where there will be no proper monitoring of pupils in school which could fuel the COVID-19 cases. Government has put in place adequate measures to ensure that pupils who are behind on their syllabi due to whatever reasons catch up. They have been given lots of homework that they will be working on during the holiday such that when schools open for the second term, they will be ready to go.
Speaking to NewsDay, Zimbabwe National Union of School Heads (ZINUSH) secretary-general Munyaradzi Majoni, said: We have received reports from our members that some officials are already visiting schools to check if there were plans to hold extra lessons during the holidays.
However, in light of the prolonged impasse between the government, school heads and teachers, which saw pupils failing to attend lessons for over two weeks, it was prudent for government to allow pupils to attend extra holiday lessons if they deem it necessary.
Pupils need a lot of time to catch up after they lost it to the strike but unfortunately, government has banned holiday lessons, which disadvantages the learners. The first term only commenced in February, almost a month after the original date due to rising COVID-19 cases. Thereafter, teachers embarked on a strike which further prejudiced learners of precious learning time.
The 2022 first term ended on Thursday, 07 April, and the second term is scheduled to commence on Tuesday, 3 May.
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