By Daily Revelation Editor
The government has postponed school re-opening for public, private and community schools that were due to open on January 08, 2024 to January 29, 2024 on account of the cholera outbreak in the country.
While this may help alleviate the usual stresses parents face of having to spend on school fees and other school requirements following the Christmas and New Year festivities, the fact that schools opening have to be rescheduled on account of the chronic situation the country has failed to address from time immemorial should ignite a reckoning on our consciences in terms of how we live.
We are a society that is reactive and fails to anticipate situations in time let alone work to eliminate them completely. Who doesn’t know in this country about cholera outbreaks during the rainy season? But what long term measures have been taken to address the situation? None! We can confidently say that this situation of delaying school openings or even stopping them mid-terms shall happen again in future on account of the same cholera outbreak.
We are a society that has gotten used to living in dirty and unkempt surroundings. We do not even need to look too far for examples. All one needs is to take a visit to the main Central Business District in the country, Lusaka. The place is an eyesore. Temporal cleanups which have been undertaken over the years have been fruitless. Why? Because both those who conduct cleanups and the society they clean those surroundings for have not been trained to keep their surroundings tidy. That culture is alien to all. We live in a society where it is normal for people to dispose off plastics and other refuse anyhow from the comfort of their homes and even vehicles.
More worrying also is the fact that there is no anticipation from those in the central and local governments to plan and anticipate eventualities such as this cholera outbreak we are facing today, which has even necessitated the delayed re-openings of schools. If you asked the Minister of Health or even Local government, or any city mayor today in terms of how much they have allocated to prevent the cholera outbreak in the next rain season, they will not have any answer for you. They will wait for another cholera outbreak to announce anemic measures once the situation has already gotten dire. This is a society we live in and have normalised.
In other countries, disease outbreaks are never tolerated and politicians pay dearly for such. Just consider how former United States president Barack Obama was put under strain during the outbreak of bird flu. Donald Trump lost his presidency to Joe Biden in the United States of America because of the handling of coronavirus which did not even originate in that country. In Britain, Boris Johnson paid dearly over matters related to the same coronavirus. People in other countries don’t compromise on certain matters. But we have treated repeated outbreaks here as a norm, as part of our living cycle and have failed to change our habits in terms of how we live. As a result we can’t take our officials and public servants to account because we have normalize untidiness. We actually allow our public officials to snore while on duty.
We agree with Kanchibiya member of parliament Sunday Chanda when he urges the government to work towards finding a solution to the consistent flooding and mixing of water from shallow wells and pit latrines in Lusaka and surrounding areas by ensuring the completion of the three phases for the Kafue Bulk Water Project which should allow residents to access clean water
And the remarks by Education minister Douglas Syakalima that children will only rest for one week during the second term holidays is a bit unfair on the children. The impact of this postponement may not be felt physically as they are already in holiday mood, but allowing them only one week of rest for the second term might be a bit draining on them physically, especially that the next time they will close will be for the third term holidays. Therefore as the government tries to make up for lost time on the students, a proper mechanism should be put in place also that will not take a toll on the students physically.
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By Daily Revelation Editor
The government has postponed school re-opening for public, private and community schools that were due to open on January 08, 2024 to January 29, 2024 on account of the cholera outbreak in the country.
While this may help alleviate the usual stresses parents face of having to spend on school fees and other school requirements following the Christmas and New Year festivities, the fact that schools opening have to be rescheduled on account of the chronic situation the country has failed to address from time immemorial should ignite a reckoning on our consciences in terms of how we live.
We are a society that is reactive and fails to anticipate situations in time let alone work to eliminate them completely. Who doesn’t know in this country about cholera outbreaks during the rainy season? But what long term measures have been taken to address the situation? None! We can confidently say that this situation of delaying school openings or even stopping them mid-terms shall happen again in future on account of the same cholera outbreak.
We are a society that has gotten used to living in dirty and unkempt surroundings. We do not even need to look too far for examples. All one needs is to take a visit to the main Central Business District in the country, Lusaka. The place is an eyesore. Temporal cleanups which have been undertaken over the years have been fruitless. Why? Because both those who conduct cleanups and the society they clean those surroundings for have not been trained to keep their surroundings tidy. That culture is alien to all. We live in a society where it is normal for people to dispose off plastics and other refuse anyhow from the comfort of their homes and even vehicles.
More worrying also is the fact that there is no anticipation from those in the central and local governments to plan and anticipate eventualities such as this cholera outbreak we are facing today, which has even necessitated the delayed re-openings of schools. If you asked the Minister of Health or even Local government, or any city mayor today in terms of how much they have allocated to prevent the cholera outbreak in the next rain season, they will not have any answer for you. They will wait for another cholera outbreak to announce anemic measures once the situation has already gotten dire. This is a society we live in and have normalised.
In other countries, disease outbreaks are never tolerated and politicians pay dearly for such. Just consider how former United States president Barack Obama was put under strain during the outbreak of bird flu. Donald Trump lost his presidency to Joe Biden in the United States of America because of the handling of coronavirus which did not even originate in that country. In Britain, Boris Johnson paid dearly over matters related to the same coronavirus. People in other countries don’t compromise on certain matters. But we have treated repeated outbreaks here as a norm, as part of our living cycle and have failed to change our habits in terms of how we live. As a result we can’t take our officials and public servants to account because we have normalize untidiness. We actually allow our public officials to snore while on duty.
We agree with Kanchibiya member of parliament Sunday Chanda when he urges the government to work towards finding a solution to the consistent flooding and mixing of water from shallow wells and pit latrines in Lusaka and surrounding areas by ensuring the completion of the three phases for the Kafue Bulk Water Project which should allow residents to access clean water
And the remarks by Education minister Douglas Syakalima that children will only rest for one week during the second term holidays is a bit unfair on the children. The impact of this postponement may not be felt physically as they are already in holiday mood, but allowing them only one week of rest for the second term might be a bit draining on them physically, especially that the next time they will close will be for the third term holidays. Therefore as the government tries to make up for lost time on the students, a proper mechanism should be put in place also that will not take a toll on the students physically.
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