BULAWAYO – Covid-19 is causing fresh disruption at schools countrywide, and a teachers’ union says the crisis was predictable.

Nearly two dozen schools have reported outbreaks since schools re-opened on September 6.

The latest include Matabeleland South schools Empandeni Mission (22 infections), Bulu High (59), Plumtree High (6) and Tongwe High with 55 cases.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou said the reported cases were just a tip of an iceberg.

“Conglomeration in schools without testing teachers, students and ancillary staff was a great mistake committed by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education,” Zhou said.

“We said it before and would say it now that it was suicidal to open schools without concrete plans to combat Covid-19. That we chose to ignore professional advice, we now can’t choose to ignore designing an intervention plan in affected schools in particular and other schools in general.”

Zhou claimed “there are Covid-19 cases in more than 50 percent of our schools”, adding: “If we don’t find an agent intervention plan, we may fail to contain the spread of the virus in schools.”

The PTUZ plan to tackle the growing infections involves mass testing of students, teachers and ancillary staff at all affected schools.

“We then move to a second phase of similar testing at all boarding schools and a third phase of targeting all schools, and vaccination of all willing teachers and students above 14 years,” he added.

Covid-19 outbreaks have also been reported at Chegato High in Mberengwa, Gutu High, Masase High, Mnene High, Daramombe High, Neshangwe High, Msume High, Kristie Mambo, Nyamhuka Primary and Chemhanza High.

The fresh disruptions which will require affected pupils and teachers to quarantine for at least 10 days will hurt preparations for examination classes whose learning had already fallen behind due to the pandemic which caused a two-month delay to the opening of the school term.

The government says Grade 7 pupils will sit their exams at the end of November while Form 4 and Upper Sixth students will write exams starting in mid-December, and continuing into the new year.