Two students from Harare Polytechnic were suspended by the college authorities after they were caught red-handed by the principal hugging on campus.
Yolanda Musithu, a female student doing National Diploma in Office Management with the institution, and Blessing Pasipanodya a male student doing NC DDT, were suspended on Thursday.
According to the letter circulating online, Yolanda and Blessing were accused of violating the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Ministry of Health and Child Care COVID-19 prevention measures.
Even though, WHO did not ban hugging as a preventive measure against Covid-19, some learning institutions saw it fit to introduce the measure as a way to enforce social distancing and curb the spread of Covid-19
iHarare is publishing part of the letter that was written to Yolanda by Harare Poly authorities;
You, Yolanda Musithu C, a student at Harare Polytechnic doing National Diploma in Office Management violated WHO, Government, and Harare Polytechnic COVID19 regulations.
You were caught by the Principal on 22 March 2021 hugging Blessing Pasipanodya an NC DDT student.
This was in direct violation of WHO, Government and institutional standing COVID 19 regulations.
The institution conducted health education on COVID 19 through posters on notice boards at the entrance but you opted to ignore these regulations.
The incident has left social media users divided as they questioned whether suspending the students was the right thing to do.
Some thought the institution was justified in suspending the students as they violated covid-19 regulations that were put in place by the Ministry of Education. However, some social media users thought the move was a bit extreme and over the board.
Here are some of the comments from social media;
