The Sunday Mail
Debra Matabvu
Sunday Mail Reporter
NON-EXAMINATION classes will not attend school daily but instead will alternate attendance days to allow for proper implementation of social distancing rules, as the last group of classes resume learning tomorrow.
Early Childhood Development classes going up to Grade Five, as well as Forms Ones and Twos return to school tomorrow and will join the ongoing intense crash programme designed to ensure that pupils catch up on lost learning time.
Authorities have designed an ad-hoc learning programme entailing intensified one-on-one learning, provision of self-study guidelines and rigorous homework in order to accelerate catching up. The 2020 and 2021 examination classes, which returned to school in September and October respectively, are already undertaking the improvised learning regime.
Government is encouraging hot-sitting at schools that may have inadequate infrastructure and resources to properly implement Covid-19 prevention regulations. “Hot-sitting” is when the school day is split into morning and afternoon sessions for different classes to allow for sharing of classrooms and other resources at schools.
The development comes as education authorities have started compiling names of teachers who have not been reporting for duty since schools reopened, ostensibly to initiate disciplinary procedures.
Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education spokesperson Mr Taungana Ndoro told The Sunday Mail that only classes that will sit for this year’s public examinations should attend school every day.
“For all other levels, school authorities are encouraged to follow alternate schooling days with some learners coming on particular days of the week,” said Mr Ndoro.
“We envisage that some schools are likely to face challenges in implementing social distancing requirements because of inadequate infrastructure.
“Alternatively, schools may split the schooling day, with some classes coming in the morning and others in the afternoon, with groups alternating every fortnight.”
He said authorities had put in place guidelines to monitor learners’ individual performance levels and compare them to where one was at the close of the first term when schools were shut.
