The pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus has had multiple impacts on education, both for students and for educational institutions, in more than a hundred countries around the world. And Mozambique was no exception. After all, going to school and returning was part of the daily lives of millions of children, teenagers and adults who suddenly saw everything change.
Faced with the risk represented by agglomerations, common in class- room teaching, the authorities decreed the temporary suspension of classes. Technology and distance learning have become allies to continue the academic year, despite barriers such as inequality in internet access.
Following the easing of the restrictions imposed, the authorities set 1 October for the gradual resumption of classes in general education, start- ing with the 12th grade, followed by the 10th grade on 19 October of the same month, and the 7th grade on 2 November. However, due to the rapid spread of the pandemic, it has been observed so far that not all students have returned to classrooms due to the fear that guardians feel about exposing students to infection in schools or on the commute between home and school.
Although the Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH) guarantees that it has created all the conditions for the safe resump- tion of classroom teaching, some parents don’t believe this position and aren’t allowing students to return to schools. Just in 12th grade, the first to resume classes, according to Gina Gibunda, spokesperson for MINEDH, only 80% of the 8.4 million students are present. This fact poses a challenge to the authorities to raise awareness with parents and guardians, to allow their children to return to school.
“So far, in secondary school, we still have no case of a student who has been suspected of being infected with COVID-19. So, this guarantees us that all the work done by MINEDH is having an effect,” Gibunda underlined. Amadeus Lucas Impuana, national secretary of the National Teachers Or- ganization – National Teachers Union of Mozambique (ONP/SNPM), admits that “in fact there is much fear, but it is understood that there is a need to promote the rehabilitation of schools and also raise awareness with the communities themselves.”
Text: Hermenegildo Langa Com With Yuran Coimbra
Photo: Ricardo Franco
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