Suburban
Suburban Reporter
The schools sporting season for 2020 looks like has been technically knocked out by the Covid-19 pandemic if decisions announced this week are anything to go by.
Government this week made the decision that only examination classes will open for the third term while non examination classes remain at home at least for the time being due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cabinet decided at its weekly Tuesday meeting that Cambridge examination classes will re-open on September 14 while Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council classes will re-open on 28 September 2020 with Zimsec examinations starting on December 1 2020.
Cambridge Grade 6 examinations are scheduled for between October 1 and 15, according to communication sent to parents by some schools offering the Cambridge syllabus at their institutions.
“Regarding Primary and Secondary Education, Cabinet notes that based on on-going consultations with relevant stakeholders in that sector, the Ministry is continuing with its preparations for the re-opening of schools for the end of year 2020 final examination classes.
Fifteen stakeholders have submitted their inputs and another nine are expected to make their submissions shortly.
Among those that were invited for inputs on the reopening of schools are the following: the Zimbabwe Visually Impaired Teachers’ Union (ZVITU) and nine other Teachers’ Unions; the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education; the Association of School Development Committees; the Independent Colleges in Zimbabwe; the Private Schools Association of Zimbabwe; and the Association of Trust Schools.
“The schools opening dates are scheduled for 14 September 2020 for Cambridge Examinations classes and 28 September 2020 for Zimsec Examination classes.
Cabinet approved that the Zimsec Examinations should start on 1 December, 2020.
Peterhouse and Arundel clash in a basketball match in March this year
The Ministry is working closely with other Ministries and stakeholders to guarantee the safety of pupils and staff during the examinations period.
Standard Operating Procedures have been distributed to all schools,” Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said in a post-Cabinet briefing to the media on Tuesday.
What this essentially means is that only examination classes will be re-opening while the rest of the classes remain at home.
In this case no sporting activities are expected to take place given the students have already lost five months of learning and school authorities and teachers would want the learners to make the most of the remaining months before they sit for their examinations. Although some of the students have been doing online classes through their schools while some parents resorted to hiring teachers who took their children through some virtual lessons, the remaining months are crucial because they are an opportunity for the students to have face to face lessons with their teachers.
In any case most sporting disciplines remain inactive and though some had started preparations to resume games, they were forced to shelve their plans following the recent spike in Covid-19 infections in Zimbabwe.
The increase in the number of infections forced the Government to lift the relaxations it had earlier announced in a bid to control the spread of the virus in the country.
Zimbabwe is not the only country whose school sporting season has been thrown off the rails by the Covid-19 pandemic as some countries such as Kenya have closed schools for the rest of this year while in South Africa schools have just re-opened but with no sporting activities.
During the second terms budding athletes missed on rugby, soccer, netball among other sports while for the third term they are going to miss on cricket, basketball and swimming among sporting activities.
