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Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi warned on Friday that his government will never allow acts of irresponsibility to drag the country’s educational system into collapse.
Nyusi issued this call in Monapo district, in the northern province of Nampula, where he formally opened the 2021 school year, a ceremony that marks the return of nearly nine million pupils across the country to face-to face classes, after a year in which the schools were mostly closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Take good care of this school and my appeal is extensive to the others across the country. We shall not tolerate lack of collaboration by directors and teachers. We will not allow any act of irresponsibility to collapse the education system. You must ensure regular and permanent maintenance, so that the infrastructure can serve future generations,” Nyusi said.
The President also warned about the need for collective responsibility in compliance with Covid-19 preventive measures, otherwise the government will have no choice but to shut schools again.
“The decision to return to face-to-face teaching can be reversed, if there is no compliance with the preventive measures issued by the health authorities and the disease spirals out of control,” he said.
Lack of compliance will have severe consequences, he warned, because nobody can be allowed to trifle with health and force a renewed interruption of classes. “We shall hold accountable in an exemplary fashion those who intend to hamper the development of our youth”, he said.
The parents, he stressed, have a vital role to play when it comes to ensuring Covid-19 prevention, because the fight against the disease is the responsibility of everyone, and not just the government.
Nyusi, who once was a teacher himself, warned of the danger of pupils dropping out of the education system.
“We would like to urge you to use your equipment with knowledge and technical skills to ensure the adoption of strategies intended to keep pupils at school thus ensuring that they complete at least basic education,” Nyusi told his audience.
Crucial to combating the spread of Covid-19 is a supply of clean water – and despite the many months of preparations there are still schools which do not have decent washing and sanitation facilities.
The governor of the western province of Tete, Domingos Viola, was angered when he made a lightning visit to two large schools in Tete city on Thursday, and found that in one, the Francisco Manyanga Secondary School, the rehabilitation of the sanitation facilities is weeks behind schedule. The contractor assured him that everything would be completed by Monday, when classes begin.
At the Canongola Complete Primary School, Viola found the work had been done shoddily, and did not obey the design for modern washrooms.
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