By Taruberekera Masara- Primary and secondary education Minister Cain Mathema has to find a way of reopening schools to alleviate a disaster that is awaiting Zimbabwe’s school going children.
A generation is fastly being lost and it is compelling to issue a call for the government to prioritize school reopening and make classrooms as safe as possible.
While the urgency of arresting the Covid 19 crisis is primary, averting the irreversible harm to children’s education and well being is equally important.
It is imperative for the government to find a way of averting this brewing disaster.
Schools must be opened.
Assertions by government run newspaper the Herald that current intervention measures by the government to school children and their education will be enough to help kids keep track are highly shocking.
Education has severely been disrupted, as schools struggle to cope with repeated closures and re-openings, and the transitioning.Even the options of digital and online schooling have never been handy enough.
These emergency measures have severely disadvantaged kids.
The only alternative is to open schools.
According to the World Bank, around 1.6 billion school children were affected by these closures at their peak (World Bank 2020).
“While the economic costs of closing businesses arise immediately and are thus very salient, closed schools and childcare centres have negative economic effects on the human capital accumulation of children that only arise in the long run”
“Education is a crucial determinant of future wages, and schools are an important driver of intergenerational mobility (Kotera and Seshadri 2017, Lee and Seshadri 2019)” they wrote.
It is increasingly becoming a reality that at the end of the lockdown restrictions we will have fifth or sixth graders whose reading levels will be that of a third grader or even worse. While we gloat in trying to arrest the disease through lockdowns,alternatives to serve the situations must be rolled out effectively and efficiently.
There is no room for excuse,its about a generation that can be lost,its about the future of our nation.
UNESCO warned that “Covid-19 school closures around the world will hit girls hardest”.
Statistics on the ground in Zimbabwe points to a possibility that there will be “ drop-out rates which will disproportionately affect adolescent girls, further entrench gender gaps in education, and lead to increased risk of sexual exploitation, early pregnancy and early and forced marriage.”
Already country wide findings collated a tally of over400 school girls in Manicaland province who dropped out of school some with pregnancies.In Kwekwe three junior councillors eloped.
These are some of the so many cases whose cause could be largely school closures.
According to World Vision, teenage pregnancy spiked during the Covid-19 lockdown, they added that the crisis is now is threatening to bar 1 million girls across sub-Saharan Africa from returning to school.
In their research study titled “Covid-19 Aftershock: Access Denied”, the organisation notes the pandemic caused “additional and unanticipated disruption”.
“School closures during crises can result in girls spending more time with men and boys than they would were they in school, leading to greater likelihood of engagement in risky sexual behaviour and increased risk of sexual violence exploitation.”
The adverse effects are exponentially wide Robert Jenkins UNICEF’s chief of education said:
“The closures not only interrupted educational progress; they also curtailed normal social interaction and limited access to essential services families relied on, including school nutrition and health programs, information on disease prevention, and access to clean water and sanitation.”
By and large the children are at loss. Deferment of opening schools have far reaching implications. There is need for rethink,remodelling and restructuring. Quickly.
It may be difficult to get children back to school following long-term school closures.
Maintaining learning and links to schools during closures are crucial. Arguments have been that even during the time schools are closed radio and television education programs are being aired. While it is very positive to what extent are they effectively and efficiently beneficial. Are the services available for all. If an urban setting like Kwekwe does not have reception for radio and television what about remote areas like Chivi,Mbire,Guyu to mention a few. Who do we fool? Children need those four walls and a teacher in front of them.
The benefits of school closures should be balanced against the strong adverse effects. We should think ahead.
UNICEF made it clear that the needless closure of schools has no overarching goal.
“What we have learned about schooling during the time of COVID is clear: the benefits of keeping schools open, far outweigh the costs of closing them, and nationwide closures of schools should be avoided at all costs”,
“Evidence shows that schools are not the main drivers of this pandemic. Yet we are seeing an alarming trend whereby governments are once again closing down schools as a first recourse rather than a last resort”
“In some cases, this is being done nationwide, rather than community by community, and children are continuing to suffer the devastating impacts on their learning, mental and physical well-being and safety”said Jenkins.
Teacher trade unions must also spare a thought for children beyond their advocacy for own members. We are losing a generation.
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