LINDA SOKO TEMBO writes
MOST private schools in Mtendere East will open but they will not be able to meet all the health guidelines that the Health Authorities require in the fight against COVID-19 a private school owner Alfred Phiri has said.
Mr Phiri said most private schools were financially crippled and community schools in the area did not have running water because of the erratic water supply that the residents of Mtendere East faced.
In an interview with the Sun, Mr Phiri said most private schools in the community had challenges meeting the salaries for their employees because schools closed three weeks before the term finished and some parents had not finished paying school fees.
Mr Phiri explained that when schools closed unexpectedly most parents decided to withhold payments and this affected them making it difficult for them to pay the teachers, rentals for the premises they used among others.
“It will be difficult for us to meet the health guidelines because we have no money and some parents have financial challenges, where are we going to get money from to buy masks, hand sanitizer, buckets among other things because we are financially crippled?” Mr Phiri asked.
“We were promised masks and hand sanitizer from the ministry of Education but we have not received and schools will start operating on Monday.”
Mr Phiri said that when schools closed they thought government would help private schools financially because they had formulated various Covid-19 recovery measures.
He said they were aware that government had released K10 billion to help boost business in Zambia for a three year period during the pandemic period but the conditions that they had put in place were not favoringthem.
Mr Phiri said that it was only big private schools that could manage and that small ones could not manage as most of them did not own their own premises and one of the requirements to get loan was to have collateral which most of them did not have.
“These are some of the challenges and as schools open on Monday we don’t expect a good number of pupils to come and some private schools do not have up to grade seven it means they will be closed and financial challenges will continue to hit them,” he said.
