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Leroy Dzenga

Herald Reporter

THE Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has received a boost in its preparations for the June public examinations after the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) on Monday received a donation of 10 000 litres of hand sanitisers from 10 of the country’s universities.

Hand sanitisers are supposed to be made available before resumption of school activities as per World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations.

Examinations are scheduled to begin on June 29.

The universities, which have been producing hand sanitisers and face masks since the outbreak of Covid-19, decided to chip in with donations of 1 000 litres each.

Speaking at the handover ceremony in Harare on Tuesday, Primary and Secondary Education Minister  Cain Mathema thanked the universities for the initiative.

The donation came from Bindira University of Science Education, the Harare Institute of Technology, the University of Zimbabwe, Lupane State University, Chinhoyi University of Technology, National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University, Great Zimbabwe University, Midlands State University and Africa University.

“We are so sure this will take us a long way in addressing some of the candidates’ safety challenges we are grappling with,” said Minister Mathema. “Higher and Tertiary Education has a symbiotic relationship with Primary and Secondary Education.

“The students that universities get are a product of our processes as primary and secondary education. I am happy this relationship is culminating in material assistance in these difficult times.”

The donation were given to Zimsec who immediately passed on the resources to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

Bindura University of Science Education Vice Chancellor Professor and Zimsec board chair Professor Eddie Mwenje coordinated the donation.

Professor Mwenje thanked his Vice Chancellor colleagues for heeding his call.

“Each of the universities have been proactive in producing personal protective equipment to help in the fight against this novel virus, which is a global pandemic,” he said. “This donation is being handed over to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education for distribution to schools.”

The gesture could be counted among early results of the Education 5.0 approach, which the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development is introducing in universities.

It is an academic formula in which universities answer to prevailing questions in their environment.