This includes Upper Six, Form Four and Grade Seven classes and Zimsec examinations should start on December 1.

Other grades will be phased in gradually.

Teachers and students are nervously awaiting the new school term as Covid 19 case counts across the country rise to 7 576.

And there are so many fears and questions across the board.

Is it safe? Are schools ready? Why not stick to online schooling for now?

Online learning not working?

Lessons via radio or TV. Math problems in newspapers. Classes on Google Classroom or Whatsapp.

The options for students to keep studying while schools remain closed because of the Corona virus pandemic seem varied, but the reality for many is that they will fall behind and possibly drop out of school forever.

The online schooling crisis is more acute in Zimbabwe, where up to 80 percent of students do not have access to the internet and even electricity can be unreliable, making distance learning difficult, if not impossible. 

While some parents are paying as much as US$800 a term for their children to attend online classes, others pay much less, up to US$5 a month to teachers, who conduct lessons in backyards or on Whatsapp groups. 

Many others cannot afford any support.

Nkazimulo Moyo a Grade 7 pupil at Amafela Primary School in Bulawayo says she could not access online classes as her grandmother does not have a cellphone.

“Since we closed schools in March, I have been helping my grandmother sell vegetables and doing house chores.

“I do not have access to online schooling as my grandmother does not have a cellphone, we have no radio and money for extra lessons.

“My school is asking for R100, my grandmother cannot afford it.”

Nkazimulo is not alone in this predicament.

Bridget Jackson a Form Four student from peri-urban Robert Sinyoka Village in Bulawayo says she is not ready to write her Zimsec in two months’ time.

“We did not finish the syllabus and did not have notes to use during the lockdown, can’t the examinations be postponed to February 2021 so that we have adequate time to prepare for our examinations?

Some parents are worried not enough has been done to guard against infections.

Esther Chimwe from Epworth doubts if schools have what it takes to protect their children. 

“Children are 60 to 70 in class, we have no water in Epworth. Will the masks and sanitisers be enough for all the children?”

However, some parents feel the year was already gone, and children have to go back to school.

“They need to apply for university next year,” said Prosper Gore, who has a child at Samuel Centenary Academy. 

“My son returned to school on Monday, the school is better equipped than l thought so I was happy he’d be safe.”

Those writing Cambridge examinations this year resumed classes this Monday.

The World Health Organisation has urged African governments to accelerate the reopening of schools, saying that the continent’s youths will suffer from prolonged closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Is Zimbabwe ready to re-open schools?

Many government schools have no running water, making hand-washing impossible. 

Others have been vandalised during a nationwide lockdown imposed by the Government in March.

Government officials, however, worry that further delaying a return to classrooms would mean a generation of schoolchildren risks losing a key part of their education.

Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Ambassador Cain Mathema said closing schools indefinitely was not a solution, but insisted measures to reopen safely needed to be put in place.

“The issue of closing schools indefinitely is not a solution, but what we need to do is to open schools in a safe environment for learners, teachers and all the staff involved,” said Minister Mathema. 

But getting students back to school also comes with challenges, especially in Zimbabwe, where in many schools up to 70 pupils may be crammed into a small room.

“We are working with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement, and Zinwa (Zimbabwe National Water Authority) to ensure the availability of water at all the schools. This week I met representatives of church-owned schools, they declared readiness to open the schools and they are happy the measures put in place can be met. We need to work together as a team to ensure that the environment is safe and conducive for schools reopening, we have been working with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, listening to WHO guidelines to open in a safe environment.”

Minister Mathema said a total of US$600 million has been set aside by the Government for disbursement to needy schools to improve sanitation and enable them to reopen safely without risking a spike in COVID-19 infections.

WHO, UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross have issued guidance on COVID-19 prevention and control in schools. 

The guidance includes recommendations for physical distancing measures such as staggering the beginning and end of the school day, cancelling school events that create crowding, spacing desks when possible, providing handwashing facilities, wearing masks, discouraging unnecessary touching and ensuring that sick students and teachers stay at home.

“The long-term impact of extending the school shutdown risks ever greater harm to children, their future and their communities,” said UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Mohamed M. Malick Fall. 

“When we balance the harm being done to children locked out of schools, and if we follow the evidence, it leads children back into the classroom.”

Save the Children, an international charity organisation, called the pandemic the “biggest global education emergency of our time” in a report published last month. It identified 12 countries in which children “are at extremely high risk of dropping out forever.” 

Nine of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.

WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti said “Schools have paved the way to success for many Africans. They also provide a safe haven for many children in challenging circumstances to develop and thrive.”

“We must not be blindsided by our efforts to contain COVID-19 and end up with a lost generation. Just as countries are opening businesses safely, we can reopen schools. This decision must be guided by a thorough risk analysis to ensure the safety of children, teachers and parents and with key measures like physical distancing put in place,” Dr Moeti added during a press briefing on the WHO statement’s release.

Only six African countries have fully opened schools, according to a survey of 39 countries by WHO and UNICEF last month.

Learning institutions are closed in 14 countries and partially open in 19 others for examination purposes.

Currently, 12 countries are planning to resume classroom learning in September, which is the start of the academic year in some countries.

Some reopened and then had to close again when virus cases broke out in the school. 

Kenya, for instance, has closed its primary and secondary schools for the rest of 2020.