23 June 2020.

Our young trainees are making good progress with their distance learning programme. Each week new lessons and tasks are uploaded onto the tablets by our Training Team, as well as information on COVID-19 to help keep trainees, their families and their communities safe.

Training onsite at our Centre for Excellence currently remains on hold, but the Zambian Government is starting to open up access to educational institutions.

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Zambia remains low, although this may be due to limited testing rather than the true presence of the virus in communities. In response to this, and in order to keep Zambia’s fragile economy going, the government has recently eased the partial lock-down it had in place.

Schools could reopen from 1 June for pupils sitting exams, and universities were allowed to start reopening from 8 June in a phased approach, again with students taking exams the first to return.

TEVET Colleges and other colleges are being allowed to reopen from 1 July, following inspection and certification by the appropriate authorities.

We are putting plans in place to be ready to reopen our Centre for Excellence, but we continue to follow guidance and advice around the pandemic and these plans may change. Although low, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to rise slowly.

The safety of our trainees and staff remains paramount. When the centre does reopen a number of safety measures will be implemented including the availability of additional hand washing facilities and reduction in class sizes, with distance learning materials continuing to support our training programme in the weeks to come.