Cape Town – The Western Cape will open its doors to learners today contrary to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s decision last night that they only report back on June 8.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) issued a statement last night that only 80% of schools were ready to receive learners.
The statement followed the 11th-hour cancellation of a much-anticipated live update by Motshekga on school readiness yesterday.
“The Council of Education Ministers (CEM) received a report from the consortium of service providers co-ordinated by the National Education Collaboration Trust on the External Evaluation and Monitoring of the state of readiness.
Rand Water, as an Implementing Agent delivering water to 3500 schools, also presented its report.
“The Heads of Education Departments Committee also presented its technical report. All three reports converged on the fact that a substantial number of schools would not be ready for the reopening tomorrow (today), albeit tremendous progress had been made by most provinces, which overall reflected an 80% state of readiness.
“This whole coming week must be used for the proper orientation and training of teachers, the mopping and ramping of all supply chain matters, and final touches to the readiness of each facility for the arrival of learners.
“The date on which all learners have to report back to school is June 8, 2020,” the department said.
However, Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said Western Cape schools were “overwhelmingly ready”, including those that serve poor communities.
“We have been engaged in discussions at a national level over the weekend, and were awaiting the minister’s announcement that was scheduled for 6pm this evening (yesterday).
Given that this has now been postponed until tomorrow (today), we can no longer allow our schools to hover
in a state of uncertainty.
“Learners
have already begun to arrive at school
hostels, and parents have made preparations to take their children to school
tomorrow (today).
“School staff and WCED officials
have been working around the clock
to ensure that all plans are in place
to receive those learners on time.
"Given these preparations, and the
enormous effort put in by teachers
and non-teaching staff alike, it would
be unfair to delay all schools from
reopening,” she said.
Schäfer said there would also be
some schools that do not receive learners today, either because they were
not at a suitable state of readiness in
terms of safety protocols, or they were
closed for cleaning if there had been
a confirmed case of Covid-19 at the
school.
“The week will be used primarily
for the orientation of learners into the
new Covid-19 safety and learning environment. There are also outstanding
issues that need to be finalised over
the coming week – including confirming a position on home-schooling
options – but these will not prevent
the majority of our Grade 7s and 12s
from returning,” she said.
Teacher unions called Motshekga’s
previous decision to have schools reopen today a “mistake”. Grade 7s and
12s were expected back today in a
national phased reopening of schools.
In a joint statement, Sadtu, Naptosa, the SAOU, PEU and Natu called
on Motshekga to retract her announcement.
They also called on their members
to stay home.
Naptosa executive director Basil
Manuel said last night that schools
with all the personal protective equipment for staff may continue planning
and preparing, but the schooling system was not ready for learners.
“They are not ready to return
whether we like it or not. We are
shocked by this untimely postponement. Schools that have everything,
PPEs, masks and so on for staff, can
return to start planning,” Manuel said.
Some schools have said they aren’t
ready for the learners, including Imperial Primary School in Mitchells Plain.
It sent a circular to parents informing them they would not receive
learners today after two staff members
tested positive for Covid-19.
“This now complicated the scheduling of the return of the Grade 7
learners on Monday, June 1. The entire
school building will be decontaminated at the earliest.
"However, we will
not be able to receive our Grade 7
learners. At this point we are unable
to provide you with a set date for their
return as this will be communicated
via the class teacher,” the circular read.
The SA Paediatric Association
(Sapa), meanwhile, said they were
in support of the decision to reopen
schools and allow learners back.
“There is uncertainty about the
future trajectory of Covid-19 in South
Africa, with more infections and a long
duration being predicted.
"Children
biologically contain Sars-CoV-2 better
than adults, are less likely to get sick if
infected, have milder disease and are
unlikely to die, and are probably less
infectious than adults.
“Although children are at higher
risk of being infected once at school,
this additional risk to themselves and
others is outweighed by the benefits of
them returning to school.”