The Ministry of Education has today announced that schools will reopen on September 7.
Minister of Education Agnes NyaLonje made the announcement during a press briefing which the ministry conducted in Lilongwe.
According to the minister, schools will resume with classes for students expected to sit for examinations – Standard 8 learners for primary schools and Form Four students for secondary schools.
For universities, the final year students will be the first to go back to school while for Teachers colleges it will be IPTE 15 students.
She added that there will be a checklist for the Covid-19 precautionary measures that will be taken into account to all schools during the 1st phase of school reopening.
“The second phase of school reopening will be on 12 Oct 2020 for the IPTE 14 and Standards 5-7, 1-4 with reduced number of learners as well as time to reduce congestion in schools, more especially in standard 1,” she said.
According to NyaLonje, the ministry has also come up with a new school calendar for 2021.
The first term will be opened on 4th January and will end on 26 March. The second term will commence from 12 April to 2 July while the third term will start from 19 July to 8 October.
The next school calendar will start on 18 October and will be closed on 20 December.
The minister made it clear that the ministry will ensure that only those institutions that are following covid-19 preventive measures are recommend to reopen.
She also said that funds to support public schools have been transferred to zonal accounts (Global Partnership for Education Funds). These funds will aid in the training of teachers and other relevant stakeholders, distribution and printing of guidelines and the purchasing of buckets and handwashing soap.
Malawi closed schools in March this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The country has recorded over 5400 cases, 3121 recoveries and 173 deaths
Co-chairperson for the Presidential Taskforce on Covid 19 Dr. John Phuka said the Taskforce has agreed to reopen schools because the country’s caseload is not escalating.
