No remedial action for school calendar yet

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Friday May 27, 2011 00:00

 

Speaking to Mmegi yesterday, MoE's principal public relations officer Nomsah Zuze said that at the moment it is difficult to say whether schools will indeed close on June 28 as per the school calender to make up for lost time.

'We need to consult with the teachers and the unions first because we can't just make decisions on our own. We need to sit down and discuss how to go about it,' she said adding that, 'examinations will be written at the end of the year.'

She explained that there would be a student backlog problem if examinations are not written. 'What would the new group coming at the beginning of the year do because they would not be enough teachers to cater for all classes? It is a matter of giving way for the new group,' she said.

Meanwhile parents of students studying at Ledumang Senior Secondary School met with the school management last week Friday requesting for assistance in getting in touch with the Minister of Education Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi. It is reported that they were told that it would not be possible and they agreed to petition the Minister at which point the school management recused themselves from the meeting.

However, concerns that they raised include the re-opening of schools and whether the form fours would be allowed to repeat a year after losing half of their first year because of the standoff between teachers and MoE. Efforts to reach the school head proved futile as his phone rang unanswered.

Schools were closed indefinitely last week Monday after protests in different schools resulted in clashes with the police, vandalism of property and intimidation of teachers and students in secondary schools who did not want to be part of the protests. The Minister has since re-opened the primary schools, but the secondary schools remain closed.  The national strike, which is now in its fifth week continues.