The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
STUDENTS at the country’s institutions of higher learning will have to wait longer before they set foot on campus, as the stated date of re-opening tomorrow, does not mean that tertiary institutions will immediately open their doors to learners.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira told Sunday News in an interview in Bulawayo yesterday that the 1 June date was only set to allow universities and colleges to start preparing for re-opening with students only allowed on campus once all necessary requirements had been met.
Prof Murwira also said universities and colleges being used as quarantine centres would also only reopen after the last of the quarantined returnees had left. The Government had last week announced that universities will reopen on 1 June, with final year students set to get first preference as part of the phased re-opening of tertiary institutions
“Universities, starting out first week of June are rolling out the programme of re-opening. It is not like we set the date saying as from 1 June things will be happening this way. It is a gradual programme of opening because as you know for example Lupane State University is still being used as a quarantine centre. There is a day that the last quarantined person will leave. It is after that day that the university will then be able to have the presence of final year students. Otherwise, we are having blended learning. Blended learning is using online learning as well as face to face. When it comes to face to face our first priority will be the final year students,” Prof Murwira said.
He said 1 June was the date that universities would start implementing the blended learning programme, which is a mixture of online learning and face-to-face lessons for students that were in the final years of their programmes.
“Yes, we mentioned 1 June as the day that they will start rolling out the programme of opening up. But it is not a statement that says that every university on 1 June should do that. 1 June is the time that they started rolling out blended learning. All students that are not final year students will continue on e-learning platforms. We have measured the state of preparedness of our universities for e-learning purposes and they’re prepared. They started preparing from as early as February before any announcement was made because we knew where it (Covid-19) was going,” he said.
Prof Murwira said Government has realised that the biggest hurdle to online learning would be the unaffordability of data, hence they had entered into negotiations with telecommunications companies in the country. From those discussions, Government has managed to get a concession from the companies that e-learning services would be free for students, while data prices would be reduced for students and educators.
“The main challenge that we knew we had to solve was the issue of how our students would access e-learning platforms conveniently. So, we started talking to telecom companies and I am happy to report that Liquid Telecom, Econet and TelOne have responded. All what we are saying is that the websites will be like toll free lines. They are also going to reduce the cost of data for students as well as staff. So this is the way we are doing to make sure that as practically as possible, all our students are able to access e-learning in the best way possible because at the end of the day we have a constitutional obligation to make sure that we promote access to higher and tertiary education,” he said.
Prof Murwira reiterated that the re-opening would be done in a gradual and cautious manner.
“So, this is basically the translation of the policy pronouncement by the President into caution so that we are able to continue. This will be done in a gradual manner; it is not going to be abrupt. It’s going to be practical and gradual. There will be a lot of caution and thinking before anything is opened. What we are talking about is moving people that are using them as quarantine centres to other centres that are non-educational. This means we are already, gradually implementing that policy direction,” he said.
Meanwhile, one of the country’s institutions of higher learning, Midlands State University (MSU) will start welcoming back final year students at its various campuses as from 22 June. In a letter, MSU’s registrar Mr Tinashe Zishiri announced the terms under which students will be welcomed back, with students that had paid their accommodation fees prior to the lockdown and closure of schools exempted from doing so again while those that had not done so would have to pay $800. Meals at the campuses will also remain at pre-lockdown levels, while strict health regulations would have to be observed. Orientation of first year students for the August-December 2020 semester is set to commence on 31 August.
