Parents in Harare are complaining over government’s rushed decision to commence Form Five classes without taking into consideration the short period that learners were given to look for places.
Last week the government announced that Lower Sixth Students should commence lessons on May 10 just a week after the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC)released the 2020 ‘O’ level results.
Parents are complaining that the classes were opened too soon.
”The rush by the government to open schools yesterday on Monday is very unfair because as we speak most parents are yet to get places for their children and yet learning has already begun, which makes us worried.” Said Amai Tawa.
Another parent whose child was pursuing studies in the rural area said the government’s decision is unfair considering that they had to travel to look for accommodation for their children.
”It is very unfair for students in rural areas who have to travel back and look for Lower Sixth places, considering that schools for lower six have started to commence already. They need more time to secure places, It was better if we were consulted or maybe say schools should commence after 3 weeks in order to prepare.” Said a parent who refused to be named.
Some parents said the government should have given learners at least a month to look for places, and then classes commence next term.
Another parent added that they have not yet collected the results.
”We are yet to collect the results, we have debts at school that have to be cleared first.” He said.
However, Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesperson, Mr Taungana Ndoro defended the move by the government saying that the government made the right decision considering that students’ time to learn was lost during the Covid-19 lockdown period.
”To claim that government rushed to commence the form five classes is unfortunate, considering that the Covid-19 induced lock downs had forced schools to close and hence a lot of teaching and learning time was lost.” Ndoro said.
He added that people should adjust to the new reality and move on.
”We are in a new reality where urgency in the education sector is of paramount importance so that we cover lost ground. Therefore, anyone who may not have collected the results by now needs to be encouraged to adjust to the new reality.” He said.
He added that the government crafted a way for charging school fees and the fees formula will be the number of days remaining in term one, times the approved fees divided by the number of days in the term.
