COVID-19 situation remains dire in schools: Teachers

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THE Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) yesterday said the COVID-19 situation remained bad in schools and accused government of failing to deal with the situation.

Two weeks ago, several boarding schools in Mberengwa district in the Midlands province were hit by COVID-19 infections, sending students and parents into panic.

PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou said some of the affected schools included Masase, Mnene, Chegato and Msume.

“The situation remains bad. Several schools are getting infections in Midlands and the ministry (Primary and Secondary Education) has adopted a sinister motive of ordering COVID-19 positive students to stay at home for two weeks rather than quarantining them,” Zhou said.

He accused the Primary and Secondary Education ministry of failing to meet with teachers since the opening of schools to discuss their preparedness to deal with COVID-19 at learning institutions.

Zhou said the affected schools in the province did not have adequate test kits, which distorted the figures of students who were positive to the virus.

“Tests kits are not in schools. In fact, the ministry is not even testing many pupils that are showing clear signs of COVID-19 in order to keep the figures low in schools,” he said.

Efforts to contact Midlands provincial education director Robson Machimbira were fruitless.

He also did not respond to questions sent to him by NewsDay.

Provincial medical director Mary Muchekeza referred all enquiries to the person in charge of COVID-19 statistics, Reginald Mhene.

Mhene, however, said the situation at schools in the province was “under control”.

“The situation is under control, test kits are adequate and pupils from day schools who are positive and stable are isolating at home after home assessment,” Mhene said.

She did not say how many students had tested positive.

–-NewsDay