Coronavirus: Children Better Off In School Than At Home - Mahomva
Agnes Mahomwa, the chief coordinator for the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Office of the President and Cabinet, on Sunday said children were better off in school than at home.
Mahomva nade the remarks after teachers warned that pupils were being made guinea pigs by sending them to school at a time the country was recording a surge in coronavirus cases.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou said teachers and pupils must be tested before they go back to school but this was not being done.
Zhou said there are several schools where students have tested positive for the coronavirus, for example, Rujeko Primary School.
However, Mahomva said the government will make sure that all the health guidelines and processes are being adhered to. She said:
As we have been implementing our response, we were continuously monitoring to make sure that guidelines and protocols are in place.
We have also looked at researches and assessments done elsewhere, and Unicef has helped us in that area in balancing the act to say what more damage can we do by not allowing learners to go back to school versus the risk of COVID-19, and it has been very clear that you can actually do more damage when you don’t allow the learners to go back to school.
Early Childhood Development to Grade 5, as well as Forms One and Two, returned to school this Monday to complete the government’s phased reopening of schools which started on 28 September.
