Africa-Press – Lesotho. Earlier this week the Development for Peace Education (DPE) oversaw the talks with the representative from the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS), Student Representative Council (SRC) representatives and the Ministry of Development Planning over modalities of online learning it be inclusive in the tertiary schools. Speaking to Informative Newspaper
the DPE’s Peace Education Researcher Thaabe ‘Moso said the discussions were borne out of their working relations with the SRCs since last year. He said then DPE convened the meetings as the MoET was “quiet. ” He said the DPE’s part was to create a platform for engagements. “We do not hold a firm position on whether the
schools should open or not. ” ‘Moso said it was agreed that this issue be discussed and the SRCs representative submit their plan to the National COVID-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC).
NACOSEC is the body charged with the responsibility to implement and coordinate the government’s efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Summing up, he said the task force in which
all stakeholders was set and will apply their minds on the tertiary schools learning needs in the next two weeks. The SRC President at Lerotholi Polytechnic,
Ts’oloane Thaanyane said they want the online learning gap to be closed in order to accommodate all tertiary institutions. He said it is only the National
University of Lesotho(NUL) that has the online learning intranet (Thuto) while other tertiary institutions do not have. He went on to say that the schools higher
learning institutions should have the online learning platforms like the NUL and with advanced servers to handle high-volume data. As e-learning requires tools, he urged the
NMDS to increase their monthly stipend so that each student can be able to have either a laptop or tablet and the money to buy data. Thaanyane said if their requests are not met,
they propose that the schools be reopened arguing that the factories have opened and accommodate a large number of people like the schools. He further
said another alternative could be that the students go to schools in shifts. The MoET Information Officer Molikuoa ‘Mota Sekhonyana said the ministry cannot decide on the schools resumption at this
stage. “Until now we cannot say anything,” she said, adding that the ministry will engage the National COVID-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC) over this matter so that it can advise the government on whether to
open the schools or not. Last month, the Informative Newspaper ran an article concerning the jobs of teachers’ paid directly by schools being at risk as the schools are not getting income owing to the ongoing suspension of
schools and the students have been reported to not be paying any schools fees. Meanwhile, the government had said the schools will be opened when it has satisfied
itself on the containment of the pandemic to avoid increased infection rates. The Prime Minister Dr. Moeketsi Majoro said the country has adopted the colour coding risk assessment strategy, and Lesotho
is in the orange colour which poses the risk. With a high number of people concentrated in one place, as is the case with the schools, the school is deemed the Coronavirus hotspot.
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