Zimbabwean govt working on safe return of schools sport




Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry
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YOUTH, Sport, Arts, and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry says they are still working on modalities on how schools sport can return safely under the medium and high-risk category.

Already schools sport for the low-risk sport has been given the green light to resume.

But the Minister feels the stakes are higher in the high risk and are still consulting with their counterparts in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, as well the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education.

Schools opened last week for examination classes while the rest of the classes resume next Monday.

“Now that the medium and high-risk sport has been given the specific Standard Operating Procedures, what’s happening now is that there are consultations with the Sports Commission, Ministry of Education and schools, to try and see how and what sports they can allow.

“Their SOPs might be very different because schools are not requiring their students to be tested every 14 days, so these are really things that we can put into place in schools. These SOPs are more for our national sport, national teams and national clubs.

“So we are working with the schools,” said Coventry.

“From what we have seen regionally, what we have seen in South Africa, a lot of the schools have allowed all of their sport to go back but just with no contact, so I know in South Africa, most of the sports, in terms of your medium and high-risk sport, netball, basketball, football, rugby, they are practicing but they are not necessarily playing any matches or games.

“I think there is a way in which we can allow for all of our sports in schools to go back and be safe, but that is where we are now engaging with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, as well as tertiary or even our universities.

“We will have to come back to you with specifics on that but obviously as mentioned on Monday, any of the low-risk sports that don’t need to implement these specific SOPs can obviously go back and be played in schools,” said Coventry. – Herald