COVID-19 is ripping through educational institutions in the country with latest statistics showing that more than 150 learners and teachers at schools and colleges have tested positive.

Sunday News has gathered that 145 pupils and their teachers in schools in Bulawayo, Harare and Matabeleland North have tested positive while 10 cases have been reported at polytechnic colleges. John Tallach High School in Ntabazinduna, Matabeleland North leads the pack with 140 pupils and four teachers having tested positive resulting in the school being cordoned off.

Wise Owl Primary in Harare has recorded three cases while Emakhandeni Primary School in Bulawayo has recorded two cases. It is also understood that six positive cases were recorded at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic in Gwanda and while four others were reported at Kwekwe Polytechnic recently.

Director of Communications and Advocacy in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Mr Taungana Ndoro told Sunday News yesterday that of the affected schools, John Tallach in Matabeleland North was the most ‘surprising’ looking at the figures.

“Only few schools out of 9 625 schools in Zimbabwe have learners who tested positive for the virus which are John Tallach, Wise Owl (3) and Emakhandeni Primary School (2). John Tallach is a unique case and we are actually surprised as to what happened.

“The rest of the schools in the country are observing Standard Operating Procedures to the book, go to places like Manicaland, Masvingo and the Midlands there are no cases of Covid-19 in schools.

Out of the schools that have incidents of Covid-19, some cases really have nothing to do with the schools mentioned, like a teacher at a school in Bulawayo who tested positive for the virus but was actually not attending classes as she claimed she was incapacitated, so it had nothing to do with learners, the school and the education system,” he said.-The Sunday News