By Scoop Reporter
GOVERNMENT must call for an emergency national indaba to restructure the national academic calendar, the National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ) has said.
NAQEZ Executive Director Aaron Chansa today said now that it is clear that the novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) has managed to fundamentally disturb the Zambian academic calendar, just like the case is across the world, there is need for an emergency stakeholders’ indaba for collective restructuring of the national academic calendar.
Mr. Chansa says NAQEZ is of the view that the two Ministries of Education convene a meeting of educational stakeholders to critically analyze the effects of the pandemic on education and craft projected alternatives for the remaining months.
“Seeing that the Corona cases are on the increase and the fact that institutions of learning are not likely to reopen this month or even in the next two months, the expected Indaba must seriously consider cancelling all extra- curricular activities for 2020.
“There is also inevitable need to consider pushing grades 9 and 12 August national examinations to November or December,” Mr. Chansa said.
He says insisting on August examinations may not achieve any academic purpose as the country may not know when the virus will be defeated hence the need for the country to have alternatives in place for the rest of the national academic life.
“As we wait for an alternative plan for our education, NAQEZ appeals to the Ministry of General Education to make use of Provincial and Community Radio stations by engaging local teachers. At the moment, the TV educational channel and all E-learning platforms are not helping the situation at all.
“Our assessment indicates that all the newly initiated learning media are discriminatory, only benefitting very few learners in the country,” he said.
