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SCHOOLS open today for the third term and the Government has taken steps to make this as easy as possible and that this term, the examination term, will be as productive as possible.

The aid programme for fees, BEAM, has been extended so that the drying up of incomes by the El-Nino induced drought will not have a catastrophic effect on school enrolment.

Those who need help with fees will get it, although we still feel that a sort of sliding help would help the budget go further with partial assistance for those who can raise something as well as full assistance for those with nothing.

To an extent BEAM is an interim measure needed until Zimbabwe can afford to have zero fees in the public sector.

Rather than reduce fees regularly for everyone as we move towards that target, the policy has been to put the available cash into a fund that can pay for those whose parents simply do not have any money.

At the same time the necessary deliveries of mealie meal have been made, 27 000 tonnes, to schools across the country so that pupils in almost all public rural schools and in a selection of urban schools will be getting one free hot meal a day.

The meal provided by Government is normally backed by relishes and vegetables grown at the schools or brought in by parents, with communities playing their part.

This is a fairly new idea started this year, and is built around the experience of so many teachers that pupils who have eaten a decent meal are far more likely to be able to concentrate and learn in class.

It also ensures pupils will come to school. In any case, as most parents know, younger primary pupils, even if they get a decent breakfast and good lunch at home, usually still need a solid snack during the morning, especially if they have had to walk a few kilometres to school.

While it was a drought measure, we think that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the schools should be thinking about how to make it a permanent feature.

As crops are harvested next year and farm incomes rise again, there might be a greater contribution from parents, in kind if not in cash, but educationally being able to give all children a decent meal at school every school day seems like a good idea, even when times are good.

Quite a lot of good ideas do start off as emergency measures, but the results are so beneficial that they remain on the permanent list, and we think school meals could well be one of these.

Health issues are always a concern to those who run our school systems, although in recent years they have been backed by many of the resources that were lacking in the past.

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Covid-19 taught everyone how to control any viral pandemic, and the same measures are now in place to ensure mpox, which so far has not reached Zimbabwe, can be controlled if it ever did appear.

A lot of the same measures came into force when there was a national cholera alert, and this is where the growing number of schools with their own borehole is so effective for defeating these common disease threats.

At the same time, because children during the holidays travel around and mix with others, there are usually outbreaks of colds and sometimes flu at schools at the beginning of each term, as new varieties of bugs come into the school community.

The sort of measures schools now routinely take against the far more severe threats should help to minimise that nuisance.

The Ministry has also taken steps to upgrade teaching yet again to gain improvements in examination results. This was coupled with allowing schools to arrange approved holiday lessons for examination classes, carefully controlled to prevent the sort of gouging and profiteering that was common in the past before the bans.

Teacher training has been continued in the holidays, and like all professionals, teachers, and in particular the best teachers, will be continually looking for ways to upgrade their skills and figure out how to get through to their classes.

It is important to keep these best teachers and most enthusiastic teachers, and we hope the schemes being pressed by the Ministry to have ever more steps on pay scales for experience and competence, come to fruition.

Qualifications are important, but of far greater importance is what teachers do with their qualifications, which is why experience and competence need to be important elements in the pay scales.

The Ministry has issued the usual warning against schools demanding fees in foreign currency. As with everything else, parents and guardians have the right to choose what currency they pay in, and the official interbank rates give the exchange rate that is to be used.

While the public system has acquiesced in giving parents the right to choose currency, if only because heads actually work on the ministry payroll, there are still swathes in the private sector that are more sticky, and try and push parents by fair and unfair means to pay in foreign currency, or try and use a black market exchange rate.

The stability of the ZiG since its introduction should have eased the pressure within schools, and coupled with the determination by the ministry to take action, this particular problem should be fading away. The important point is to get the agreed fees paid, not to choose the currency for parents.

We hope that with the extra measures taken by Government in general and the Ministry in particular, plus the backing of parents and communities, that schools, their teachers and their pupils will have a productive and happy term.