The Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) says it respects government’s decision to extend the closure of schools on account of the increasing number of cases of cholera.
ZANEC Executive Director George Hamusunga said the the decision significantly aligns with the public health recommendations from health experts.
Mr Hamusanga however said postponing the school reopening from January 29th to 12th February, will result in serious learning losses which will undermine the education recovery post COVID 19.
“For this reason, it is important that the Council of Ministers utilizes the evidence from the researches conducted by ZANEC with support from the Ministry of Education and UNICEF during the COVID 19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022 to mitigate the impact of the cholera epidemic on education,” Mr. Hamusunga said.
He said is is important for government to put in place adequate measures in the two weeks that schools will be closed to ensure that schools will have all the necessary requisites that will protect learners from cholera when they reopen.
“It was also not prudent to generalize the closure of schools in all parts of the country, the extended closure of schools should have been only in parts of the country that have cholera for example according to Zambia Cholera Situation Report Sitrep No. 23. Provinces like Muchinga, Western and Luapula have only recorded imported cases. Therefore, the closure should have been in the districts that are epicenters, have active cases or are at high risk.”
He added, “there is need for government through the Ministry of Finance to release adequate cholera epidemic response funding to the Ministry of Education to enable them put measures in schools that will ensure the health and safety of learners.”
Mr. Hamusunga observed that the tendency by government to think that investment in the health sector alone can also address the impact of the cholera epidemic on education is misplaced.
“For us, we attribute the failure to open schools to the lack of political will to support the Ministry of Education with the required resources to make our schools conducive for learning amidst the cholera epidemic.”
Mr. Hamusunga said the Ministry of Education must also be supported to deliver Alternative Modes of Education Provision that can help provide continuity of learning at home for children during the closure of schools.
“Unfortunately, although we all agree that the Education Broadcasting Services (EBS) is the panacea to our digital learning solutions in Zambia, the institution is poorly funded to the extent that they have not aired a single education programme for a year now. We would like to call upon government, through the Ministry of Finance to quickly fund EBS so that it can resume its work.”
He said, “ Furthermore, EBS must be given an express license to air education programmes countrywide to mitigate the current learning loss. This investment is critical in the long term for continued learning during calamities or natural disasters.”
He added, the Ministry of Education must start preparing for the re-opening of examination classes now so that in the event that the cases of cholera continue increasing for the next two weeks, learners in examination classes can be given the first priority to go back to school. The Ministry can leverage on its past experience in running examination classes amidst COVID 19 to reduce the loss of learning time among our 2024 examination candidates.”
It’s your opinion. I respect it
I agree having a blanket countrywide closures is misplaced. These guys just use emotions to make decisions without considering the impact.
They need to put funds to deep clean schools before and after and encourage kids who are unwell to stay at home. They also need to offer alternatives at home learning. Man this country will always lag in the 13th Century when the entire world is matching forward. We shouldn’t be having cholera in this day and age, never!
The country is being ruled by imbeciles like hh. How can you fail to contain cholera such that it affects the education of our kids. Our kids are losing out. What impact will this have on them and what measures have these clowns put in place
@Kaizer Zulu ………………………You are on point. HH turned out to be a disappointment which is now open for everyone to see, apart from the blind followers we see at lusakatimes.
#Kaizer
100%…They don’t care
All of you in support of this thug are evil. The lives of our children matter more than losing a few days or weeks, They can always catch up by postponing the closure but can they do that with the loss of lives? Zambians be serious for once. You like to act out of your emotions.
We have *****s running the country
I can not even say 1diots on LT without being blocked?
You close schools that can easily implement hygiene measures but you leave markets, bus stations, stadiums, etc etc
That CHolera is your own making by failing to implement hygienic measures. Canes, banana peels, Mango seeds are being thrown everywhere after eating. What do you expect from these rubbish scattered all over when the rain season starts.
Kaiser Zulu.. Came into the world through the back door. What do expect from people like him??