….. as our children sit for their final examinations
03/12/2020
By Tinashe Gumbo
Today, is a very special day for the real heroes and heroines of my time across the country, the grade seven as well as Ordinary and Advanced level candidates. Real heroes and heroines are defined by their resilience, commitment and passion for a cause. My own heroes and heroines have all these attributes-and….they need us more than before as they sit for their examinations.
Despite all tribulations, our dear children are going to sit for their various examinations. Just like any other children across the globe, our Zimbabwean candidates had wished for a flowing year, one which would prepare them enough and adequately for their final examinations. Little did they know that nature would strike-Indeed, COVID-19 stole much of their potential in life. Little did they know that man-made factors would also affect their future. Our children became the victims of the long stand off between the Government and the teachers. Coming from the frying pan of COVID-19, our children were involuntarily thrown into the unsustainable effects of the subsequent teachers’ strike. Still, the children partially escaped the fire when the teachers, pushed by the passion for their job, came to the children’s rescue-But yooooh, COVID-19 hit them once again. Cases of COVID-19 in schools took away the parents’ sleep. Parents left everything to the almighty to protect their most valued fruits, the children. By the way we suffer, we work and we live for these fruits.
It was terrible! It is still a terrible situation!
Under the circumstances, the examinations are going ahead. With all my heart and spirit, I hand over the candidates to our Good Lord during this defining moment for our children. I pray for God to guide them. He knows his plans for our children beyond this process. This crop of candidates needs all our prayers and support variously. They suffered a lot from nature but also from man-made circumstances. I still feel that, COVID-19 was beyond our human control, but surely the welfare of our teachers is something we should have addressed long back, but we chose to prolong the problem. Here we are, our children will now sit for their examinations without proper guidance from their teachers. I appeal to the teachers to just assist this process. I still stand with them in their cause and really salute them for a good fight they exhibited for their life. To all parents, let us pray to our Good Lord, our children will emerge victorious from this exercise. Our heroes and heroines deserve our strong prayers. They will surely succeed. To our children, I say let us do our best. As your parents, as your teachers and most importantly as your Government, we should surely have treated you better. We let you down! Please forgive us!
I still wish you the best out of this!
# tinashegumbowekumberengwa
NB : These are my personal emotional feelings . They are not in anyway representing the various institutions I am associated with
