The Ministry of Education has announced the postponement of the opening of schools for term 1 2024 in view of the cholera outbreak around the country.
Speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka this morning, Education Minister Douglas Siakalima said the decision was arrived at, at the National Disaster Management and Mitigation Council of Minister’s meeting yesterday that all public, private, aided and community learning institutions, primary and secondary schools remain closed for a further three weeks after the official opening date of 8th January, 2024.
Mr. siakalima says this means that schools will only open on Monday, 29th January, 2024 and that further, the grace period which was earlier given to grades 9 and 10 learners has now been overtaken and all learners are expected to open on 29th January, 2024.
He adds that in order to catch up on the time lost, the first term holidays will only run for 1 week instead of 4 weeks, implying that schools will close for term one on 26th April instead of 5th April, 2024, and open for the second term as scheduled on 6th May, 2024.
Meanwhile, the Lusaka City Council says Heroes’ stadium has been declared a cholera Centre and is ready to accommodate patients.
And the LCC has resolved to bury all shallow wells across the city as an emergency cholera response, following a surge in the daily cholera cases being recorded in the country, with Lusaka being the most affected.
Speaking during the 4th ordinary full council meeting held yesterday, Lusaka Mayor Chilando Chitangala explained that shallow wells are a major source of contamination and pose a serious health risk to residents.
Ms. Chitangala has since directed all councilors to work with the council, community leaders and health workers in the identification of active shallow wells in their respective wards to ensure they are buried as soon as possible.
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