The Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) says the re-opening of Examination classes should be taken as a multi-sectorial responsibility that requires the support of all education stakeholders.
Organization Board Chairperson Harriet Miyato told Money FM News in a statement that the re-opening of examination classes requires a lot of investment in the sector in order to militate against the likely health risks of running classes during the COVID 19 period.
“This landmark pronouncement which was made in order to avert an education crisis resulting from the prolonged closure of schools is progressive and requires the support of all stakeholders,” Ms. Miyato said.
Ms. Miyato observed that the Ministry of General Education has already invested a lot of resources in sustaining learning during this period through television education programmes and the provision of e-learning content on the ZAMTEL zero-rated internet facility,
She however stated that more resources are required to invest in the learners in Early Childhood Education who are currently not benefiting from the on-going learning programmes.
“Therefore, in line with the address by the President, the re-opening of Examination classes should be taken as a multi-sectorial responsibility that requires the support of all education stakeholders,” she stated.
She said it is for this reason that the organization in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) will be conducting a schools monitoring exercise and will nationally sample about 500 schools that have reopened for examination classes using a participatory approach involving Provincial and District epidemic preparedness teams and the media among others.
“The monitoring will help in generating empirical evidence on the existing gaps and local opportunities that can be tapped in order to bridge the existing gaps. ZANEC believes that with the unity of purpose, a lot can be achieved at local level in helping our schools prevent COVID 19.”
“To this effect, the school monitoring exercise will also be used to sensitize local stakeholders on the need to harness local resources from companies, organizations, businesses and individuals to support the improvement of public health standards in our schools,” Ms. Miyato stated.