I wish to share this personal story and people in government and particularly in the Education sector should walk out of this unending slumber.
During the first lockdown, our children were subjected to stay home for a year, after which we sent them back to school and we paid all the requirements as demanded with a “hybrid vigour”. Though most us were not working.
After one month of my daughter being at school, they gave us notice to pick them because her school is a marking centre. This infuriated me to the bone! So our children were subjected to another one month redundant at home because their school was a marking centre. We had to buy notes, print this and that, buy data ectra ( We had not budgeted for this)
To add insult to injury, we had to pay fees again when we resent them back after the exam marking had concluded.
After one week of re-sending them back, the President announced a second lockdown, so we went to pick them.
Arriving at school, notes and textbooks were on sale by teachers and it appears these days it is mandatory to buy them.
But what makes me run amok is not the buying of notes but to find out that our children were being treated for Covid-19 like symptoms at school and parents were not informed.
So I picked my daughter and drove her home not knowing that she was being treated for Covid-19 like symptoms. The school didn’t take the initiative to inform parents. I was not informed at all!
It turns out that my daughter is positive and today I also tested positive Covid-19. My whole family has been exposed and most likely I will have more people test positive in my household.
The reason I bring this to light is that there is no morality anymore, the school owners are the alpha and omega, they decide for us and we only have to ask how deep should we dive.
You have the time to ask the parent money to buy notes and textbooks but you can’t inform a parent that their daughter is having a potential health encumbrance?
When we sent back our children after the first lockdown, one of the control measures devised by government to limit transmission in schools was to decongest schools by opening up in a staggery manner but also to cut off contact with students at school from the external world. Why on earth would you send them back to the communities after one month of succesful re-opening.
The answer is M-O-N-E-Y.
You have a contract with UNEB to use your school as a marking centre? Right! It means you are being paid for that service, but parents are subjected to fetching their children from school at their own cost, keep them at home at their own cost, feed them at their own cost, bring them back at their own cost, as the school enjoys the financial scheme with UNEB. (This was not in my budget) Atleast not as soon as that.
As if that was not bad enough, we had to pay fees again and even take more requirements. After one week at school they are sent back home with a Covid-19 threat to life and a huge bill to ensure your family survives Covid-19.
If the president didn’t call for this second lockdown who knows what would have happened to our children.
So before even the dust settles down, messages from schools asking parents to pay money for online …nonsense, buy notes…do this are all over the place.
These people need to be whipped. I know most parents are threatened when they speak out because they can sabotage your child’s education. But parents we need to speak out, this is getting out of hand.
I write this message on my Covid-19 bed, fighting for my life and my daughter too is fighting for her life.
Source: Internet