FACE-TO-FACE schooling starts on Monday after the government recently further relaxed Covid-19 lockdown measures on the backcloth of declining new infections and deaths.
Reopening of schools has become overdue and learners are lagging behind in their studies.
It is our hope, as predicted by the World Health Organisation, that the deadly Covid-19 would be conquered by year-end or its effect, if still in existence, would not disrupt the world order as it did since its discovery in December 2019 in China.
It has killed thousands of people, infected millions and wreaked economies as most countries across the globe enforced lockdowns to curb and mitigate the spread of the virulent pandemic.
Zimbabwe was not an exception.
The country has enforced several measures since the virus reached our shores in March 2020.
Though the government says it had minimal impact on economic recovery, ordinary people had to bear the brunt of the scourge.
Eking out a living became difficult as revenue sources dried with most companies shutting down while the informal sector was rendered un-operational.
The government social safety nets introduced to cushion the vulnerable were inadequate and didn’t reach many people.
Ordinary people were left to scrap a living.
But the most affected were learners, especially those coming from underprivileged families and rural areas.
In the past two years, they have probably lost a third of their studies due to lockdowns which disrupted learning.
Several schools, especially private ones, introduced online lessons which the poor could not afford, leaving thousands of learners disadvantaged.
It is against this background that we are calling for the ramping up of vaccination against Covid-19 in schools and the rest of the population. We also passionately appeal to citizens to guard against being complacent. We need to be on guard.
Parents and guardians must ensure that learners eligible for inoculation must do so.
They have to ensure the learners mask up, sanitise and social distance wherever they are.
We have gone through four waves of coronavirus and we do not want to be hit by another wave soon which would disrupt our lives and derail, not only learning, but the country’s economic recovery.
Prevention is better than cure! Let’s get inoculated now to reach herd immunity!