Teachers Unions Call For Children To Go Back To School

Teachers Unions have issued a plea to parents to allow their children to attend classes once schools reopen next month. 

Zambia National Teachers Union (ZNUT) General Secretary Newman Bubala said that all necessary precautions had been taken to ensure a safe learning environment for pupils in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

He added that teachers unions and government would work closely with parents to help their children catch up for lost time once lessons resume. 

The General Secretary of the Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia (BETUZ), Henry Sinkala, echoed this sentiment saying unions were working flat out to assess how prepared schools were to reopen in June. 

Similarly, Professional Teachers Union of Zambia (PROTUZ) General Secretary Kangwa Musenge reaffirmed that teachers were ready to commit to an undisrupted calendar of learning once school starts. 

This follows news from the Higher Education Minister Brian Mushimba, that no date has yet been set for colleges and universities to reopen, after they were closed to help curb the spread of Covid-19.

There is evidence to suggest that children of primary and secondary school age are less likely to contract or spread the coronavirus. In Germany, lessons have resumed for the oldest primary students and those in secondary school due to graduate or take exams. In Denmark all primary schools and kindergartens reopened in April after five weeks of closure, following a decline in daily deaths from Covid-19.