DISASTER AGENCY’S E56M BUDGET FOR SCHOOLS REOPENING

EZULWINI – The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) has prepared a budget of over E56 million to be directed towards the reopening of schools next month.

This was confirmed by NDMA’s Director Strategy and Sustainability, responsible for the resource mobilisation, Sihle Mzileni, during a meeting with Members of Parliament (MPs) held at Royal Villas yesterday.

Mzileni said they were mobilising for more resource partners to assist in raising the funds to cater for the shortfall, adding that actual figures that would be needed to facilitate the opening of schools amounted to E56 012 368. 

Masks

Mzileni noted that funds would be directed towards the purchase of face masks for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) in the various schools, thermo scanners to facilitate for temperature screening of pupils, face shields for teachers and hand washing facilities.
Other funds will also purchase sanitisers to be dispensed in the classrooms, while other funds will be directed towards water distribution in schools that do not have  soap for learners to wash their hands.

Mzileni said some partners had come forward and committed the funds. “Some of these budget items have commitments from certain partners,” he said.
He said working closely with the Ministry of Education and Training, they had been able to come up with a comprehensive budget that will meet the immediate needs when schools open.

According to Mzileni, a broad distribution plan had already been prepared and will cover the immediate needs of the 933 public schools and 27 private schools. He said part of the budget was financed by resource partners, including UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO and PEPFAR.

Currently, he noted that the education sector was driving the programme where they were engaging head teachers, school committees, school managers and teachers in workshops on the understanding of COVID-19 and how to manage it at school level. Following the trainings, he said they were expected to develop information, education and communication material posters, which would be distributed in all the schools.

“These posters will educate and sensitise the pupils on precautions they need to take to avoid COVID-19 infection.”

Protect

Further, he said the Ministry of Health was running the intervention programme to protect people from contracting the virus, hence they would also be working together.

He stated that schools had their own budgets to cater for the basic necessities, which was why the budget was not much.
Mzileni said they were raising an appeal to resource partners to come forward and contribute towards the required material for schools reopening.
NDMA intervention would provide relief for most head teachers in the country, following that government had requested them to use the free primary education (FPE) and orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) funds to cater for the reopening of schools to make them ideal for learners in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All public primary schools get about E560 from government for each pupil under the FPE programme. Most head teachers raised concerns that they had been receiving information to the effect that they were supposed to use the money allocated to run schools to meet the COVID-19 demands.  

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