School kids: The silent ‘victims’ of Covid-19

Raymond Jaravaza, Showbiz Correspondent
THE second school term should have started on Tuesday and what is worrying most teachers is that there are no indications as to when schools are likely to open for the second term.

Government has said dates for opening of schools and tertiary institutions will be announced when it is satisfied that it is safe to do so.

School and tertiary institutions were closed as part of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Thandeka Bango, a Grade One teacher at a local primary school is concerned about the lost learning time for her pupils. It has been six weeks since schools closed prematurely on March 24 as part of measures to protect pupils from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Teaching Grades Ones is probably one of the most difficult jobs as the kids are in their formative years in the education system,” said Bango.

She said everything the pupils learn is new such as writing their names and solving problems such as mathematics.

“As a teacher, it’s my job to make sure they don’t forget what they learn but the disrupted school calendar is making my job very difficult,” said Bango.

She said young minds such as the Grade Ones need to do the same thing over and over again hence she is worried by the long break.

“I can’t help but wonder if they will remember anything that I taught them, even writing their own names,” said Bango.

When schools were closed slightly over a week before the scheduled closing date, Bango gave her pupils homework to do over the April holidays.

She however, said she is not convinced the holiday homework is enough to keep the young minds occupied until schools are eventually opened.

The Government last week extended the national lockdown by a further two weeks.

Schools will remain closed until Government, in consultation with health authorities, is convinced the novel virus is under control to enable pupils to resume classes.

“I’m giving parents more work on the class’ WhatsApp group to keep the kids busy and its important for parents to assist them. I always tell the parents that we are in this together and working as a team will go a long way in achieving our goal,” Bango said.

Observers believe schools should be the last to be allowed to open given that it is difficult to observe health guidelines to curb the spread of Covid-19 at schools.

Nolwazi Mapurisa, a mother of two with twin daughters in Grade Six said she understands the implications of opening schools prematurely.

“We want our kids to go back to school but rushing schools into opening before Covid-19 is under control is dangerous. We can’t put our kids in danger just to get them back in class,” said Mapurisa.

For Rumbidzai Ruwa said school kids are the hardest hit by the novel virus.

“Its unfortunate that our kids are losing out on learning time but we cannot risk their lives. Teachers will try to make up for the lost time but it will be very difficult especially for the younger learners who understand better through teacher/ learner interaction in a classroom situation,” said Ruwa.

Suggestions have been made for the schools to introduce online learning but concerns have been raised on the cost of data. — @RaymondJaravaza