Ministry of General Education Permanent Secretary, Jobbicks Kalumba has emphasized that the school calendar will still run alongside the August 12, 2021, General elections as scheduled.

Dr. Kalumba said the Ministry will not heed calls by stakeholders in the education sector who are lobbying for Schools to be closed before the general elections as such may de-franchise pupils that have registered for voting at the respective schools.

Dr. Kalumba said this in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday.

‘If you say we should close the school earlier than the elections then it means that you are going to de-franchise the children. We are working on a mechanism that will allow the children to vote and immediately they vote they even go home,” he stated.

Mr. Kalumba further advised that the Ministry is working on rearranging the calendar for a few days to allow students and teachers that have registered as voters to pack and go home right after voting.