The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE Government has warned schools against conducting extra lessons during the holidays, adding that they remain illegal despite some schools claiming that they have been given the green light to conduct the lessons.
Some schools are reportedly misleading parents that they have been given the green light to conduct holiday lessons for examination classes, while some schools have come up with fancy names to enable pupils to come to class.
One of the schools in Bulawayo last week sent out letters informing parents that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education had given them a go-ahead to conduct lessons for examination classes, hence parents needed to meet to deliberate on fees for the holiday lessons.
“We are kindly inviting you to an urgent meeting today (5 April 2022) at 1pm, regarding the Grade Seven vacation lessons. This follows the approval of the lessons by the ministry,” reads the letter that was sent to parents.
However, director of communication and advocacy in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Mr Taungana Ndoro said extra lessons, be it for examination classes or the rest of the classes, remained illegal.
“We have noted a trend that these schools are trying to circumvent the system by coming up with fancy names to replace these extra lessons, some are terming them vacations, others saying they are retreats, but what won’t change is that these remain as extra lessons and extra lessons remain illegal for this term.
Schools must stop misleading parents and pupils that they applied and got clearance from the Ministry, that is not true and any school that conducts these extra lessons must be prepared to face the consequences. Even if they apply they will never get the clearance this term,” said Mr Ndoro.
He said the reason to ban the extra lessons was because the nation remained on guard with regards the Covid-19 pandemic and hence they did not want the pandemic to spread during the extra lessons.
“The danger with these holiday lessons is that there won’t be proper monitoring taking place at these schools to ensure adherence to the Covid-19 prevention protocol hence they might expose both the learners and the teachers to this pandemic.
Schools must have put in place various measures outside the holiday lessons to ensure that pupils that are behind in terms of the syllabi are able to catch up,” said Mr Ndoro.
Last year teachers and private tutors were said to be cashing in on extra lessons, charging up to US$40 per subject per month, especially for secondary examination classes as parents and guardians became desperate to make up for lost time, which was caused by the Covid-19 necessitated national lockdown.
