THUMBS-UP FOR JULY 5 SCHOOLS REOPENING

MANZINI – Government has been hailed for postponing the reopening of schools to July 5, 2022.

The extension of the school holidays was announced by the Minister of Education and Training, Lady Mabuza, during a press conference held at Mafutseni Police Station yesterday afternoon. The minister said as a ministry, they had reached a decision to extend the current mid-term break to July 4, 2022, which means lessons will resume on tuesday, July 5, 2022. As per the 2022 calender, schools closed for the mid-term break of the first-term on Thursday June 23, 2022, and this break was supposed to end today. This means that the last part of the current term (first-term) of schools was supposed to start tomorrow.

Break

During the press conference, the minister said the decision to extend the mid-term break was made following consultations with education stakeholders, who made a formal request to the ministry to allow teachers and pupils to rest a bit longer. “This means pupils will no longer be expected to resume classes this coming Tuesday, June 28, 2022,” the minister said.

Thereafter, the minister said the rest of the revised school calendar would remain the same. It is worth noting that this year’s school calendar has two, instead of three terms. When schools open for the first term mid-break on July 5, 2022, they will close on August 26, 2022. Thereafter, the second-term, which will be last one for the current calendar year, will begin on September 7, 2022 and have a short mid-term break from October 27 to 31, 2022.

According to the 2022 school calendar, classes will resume on November 1, 2022 and end on December 22, 2022.
On another note, the minister said as a ministry they would like to thank parents, teachers and pupils for their dedication and commitment since the opening of the ‘unusual’ first-term, which began on April 5, 2022.

Pupils

“We urge pupils to use this opportunity to study so that they are prepared for the July-August 2022 examinations,” the minister said. After that, the minister was asked if there would be a penalty for schools that would open tomorrow, instead of July 5, 2022, and she said there would be none. However, she emphasised that the official opening of schools would be on July 5, 2022.

Again, the minister was asked if the extension of the first-term mid-break was meant to protect the pupils from the supposedly planned activities of the June/July 2021 unrest, which is scheduled for Thursday June 29, 2020.
The minister said she was not even aware of the June 29 activities.

She then emphasised that the extension of the mid-term break was because of the formal application which was made by some stakeholders in the education sector. She said as they looked at the application, they understood that they would not lose much if they allowed the pupils and teachers to rest for five more days. “This is how the decision to extend the healthy break was reached,” the minister added.

Moreover, she expressed hope that both the pupils and teachers would benefit from the extended healthy break.
Meanwhile, many parents who reacted to these developments said the minister did the right thing. “While government says the extended break is to allow the teachers and pupils to rest, I think it has to do with the so called planned activities relating to last year’s unrest. In any event, as parents, we are glad that our children will be safe at home should any violence erupt,” a parent said.

Another parent noted that this was a week of so much uncertainty due to that some political movements had planned to march, among other things. “I don’t think any parent would allow her child to leave the house if there is so much uncertainty around safety. We are tired though of this violence. Our children need to learn. Can we not waste any more of their precious time with this violence,” another parent pleaded.

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