Schools reopen after delays over health concerns
Pr e-primary and primary schools will resume face-to-face learning today as scheduled. Executive Director in the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture Sanet Steenkamp confirmed the ministry is ready, and all schools that are supposed to reopen today have submitted reports to the ministry indicating their readiness for the return of pupils.
“We are ready to re-start; all schools that are supposed to start tomorrow will go ahead with the reopening, as they all indicated their readiness,” said Steenkamp.
Both government and private schools are expected to resume with face-to-face classes from preprimary to grade three-level in all regions except Erongo, which is currently in stage three of the state of emergency and under lockdown due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases recorded there.
All schools have been closed since March this year when the country recorded two cases of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest figures stand at 485 confirmed cases countrywide.
With regards to indemnity forms that parents are supposed to sign – so that schools cannot be held accountable should children contract the virus - Steenkamp said the ministry stands by the law as announced by Attorney General Festus Mbandeka.
Mbandeka was quoted as saying indemnity forms are allowed as long as the terms and conditions contained in the form are fair and not against public policy. “Both private and government schools have the obligation to protect pupils under their care, whether parents sign the indemnity forms or not,” he said.