Resumption of face-to-face classes: Commercial and Industrial Institutes in Maputo still unable to start

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Resumption of face-to-face classes: Commercial and Industrial Institutes in Maputo still unable to start

2:45 CAT | 18 Aug 2020

The Commercial Institute of Maputo and The Industrial Institute 1º de Maio, both in the city of Maputo, will not resume activities this Tuesday. The information was revealed on Monday by the respective directors, after a visit by Carta de Moçambique within the scope of the start, today, of the first phase of relaxation of the restriction measures imposed by the Government, within the scope of the State of Emergency, decreed by the Head of State, on March 30, as a way to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, which has already infected 2,914 people, of whom 19 lost their lives and 1,194 are fully recovered.

According to the Director of the Commercial Institute of Maputo, Daniel Mafumo, the face-to-face classes will not resume because the sanitary conditions created were rejected by the Ministry of Health inspection team.

“We will probably reopen on September 24, but it all depends on the health authorities. From the visit they made, last Wednesday [August 12], they found that the Institute lacked pamphlets explaining the coronavirus. The yard had not yet been demarcated for the singing of the national anthem, nor had the desks yet been marked,” the director said.

Mafumo explained to Carta that the classes had been divided, so that each room would have only 20 students, and 400 students per teaching period. “Each teacher will stop having four classes and will start to manage eight classes. Students will have a “yes” week and a “no” week and, on the days when they do not go to school, they will receive exercise sheets and tasks that will be overseen by the teachers, through various means,” he added.

That the Commercial Institute of Maputo was not yet ready to host face-to-face classes, according to the standards required by health authorities, was visible at our entrance, where no one bothered to measure our temperature. The only thing we witnessed was the existence of a bucket for hand washing. However, Daniel Mafumo guaranteed that the institution would disinfect the classrooms every 30 minutes, and guards would measure the temperature of each individual entering the facilities.

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The Director of the Commercial Institute of Maputo, who was cleaning up and leading the organisation of desks, also called on parents and guardians to support the institution, buying disinfectants for their students, so as to reduce costs and the time taken for students to disinfect their hands.

Industrial Institute considers opening on September 1st

In turn, the Industrial Institute of Maputo is considering reopening on the 1st of September, after a first inspection by the Ministry of Health also failed the conditions previously created.

The Director of the Institute, Jacinto Sumbana, said that the institution still needs to allocate hygiene equipment and activate the aerial tanks, so that it has running water 24 hours a day.

“We had already prepared the classrooms to receive 20 students, obeying the social distancing of 1.5 metre. But the inspection team recommended that we have only 12 students per room, which implies not only the expansion of classes, but also an increase in the number of teachers, because those we have will not be enough to teach all classes. We are still a little way from creating the conditions recommended by the health authorities, but we are working to at least re-open on September 1,” Sumbana said.

We also noted that, in addition to there being no thermometer for measuring temperature at the entrance, and the absence of disinfectant, the patio of the Instituto Industrial 1º de Maio was dirty.

Universities apparently ready

Our reporters also visited the Pedagogical University of Maputo and São Tomás de Moçambique. At the Pedagogical University of Maputo, in particular at the Faculty of Letters, it was possible to notice the existence of at least one thermometer for measuring temperature, as well as alcohol gel for disinfecting hands. It was not possible to speak to the institution’s management.

At the University of São Tomás de Moçambique, in addition to the thermometer, we found an automatic system for hand-washing, which avoids contact with the tap. There is also information and illustrative arrows on how students should behave in the corridors.

In the company of Vice-Rector for Finance, Silvério Ronguane, we found that each classroom will have 11 desks, duly positioned. In each room, the University management had posted new lists of names, in order to facilitate the control of students in case of infection. In the corridors, alcohol gel dispensers are available for hand disinfection at any time.

It should be noted that, in this first phase, only students in the third and fourth years will resume face-to-face classes, while those in the first and second years will return in late September or early October, if this first phase succeeds.

By Marta Afonso

Source: Carta de Moçambique