Going back to school a relief – and a worry

Asteaming dish of milk and maize porridge interrupts an early morning mathematics class at Sitoromo junior secondary school in the Eastern Cape.

A dozen hungry pupils dig into the brimming bowls as the sun slowly thaws the frosty meadows surrounding their town, Sterkspruit, tucked in the Maluti mountains across the border from Lesotho.

“There are children here who rely mostly on the meals they get from school,” said principal Thabang Letsoso.

Before the lockdown, about 9 million children in state-run schools received a meal per day as part of a government-led nutrition programme.

In impoverished rural communities, that meal often provides the bulk of a child’s nutritional intake.

Schools that shut at the start of the coronavirus outbreak in March, started gradually welcoming pupils back to class last month, with three more year groups allowed back from Monday.

But last weekend, Eastern Cape authorities postponed the return date due to an “increase in the number of infections” across the province – the country’s third-worst-affected.

The long disruption has not just affected the children’s education in a poor rural area. It has also stoked concern about youngsters missing out on a crucial daily plate of hot food.

“Since March, they have been staying at home,” Letsoso worried. “Sometimes I think some of them now sleep without anything in their stomachs.”

At least one fifth of about 12 million pupils have been allowed to return to school across South Africa.

In the Eastern Cape this only applies to grades 7 – children aged around 13 – and 12 – aged around 17 or 18, who are working for their high school diploma.

The next batch of grades are expected to resume class only later this month.

For Sitoromo, that means 368 children will have been out of school for at least four months.

Clad in a dark green uniform and a mask, grade 7 pupil Yongama Rhini, 13, said she was relieved to be back.

“When I am at home I’m cleaning, after cleaning I’m cooking [and] after cooking we go to play and there is no social distancing there,” she said during her lunch break.

Concerns about safety have grown as more than 150 Eastern Cape schools have reported Covid-19 cases in the past month. At least 270 pupils and 271 members of staff have tested positive across the coastal province – the highest in the country, according to government figures. A total of 15 staffers and three pupils were reported dead last weekend.

Sitoromo had just reopened following a two-week closure after a teacher caught the coronavirus, stoking further distress among alarmed parents.

“How must my child go back?” asked Lidya Radigeje, whose son was meant to resume class this week. “What we have heard about this disease is that it is here and it kills.”

Nondabezitha Sikunya admitted she was looking forward to her 12-year-old granddaughter’s return to school.

“She is not hungry when she comes home from school,” said Sikunya, 55, who makes a meagre living as a communal farm labourer. “That money is too small to support her. At least she can have breakfast here.”

Rights groups have criticised the government for failing to continue distributing food to pupils outside class.

In a recent survey of its 400 members, South African youth group Equal Education found that 37% had not been able to get enough food since schools closed, prompting the organisation to take legal action.

Education Minister Angie Motshekga has announced plans to feed “pupils not yet in school” through staggered meals and food parcels.

Several doctors believe the detrimental effects of keeping children away from school could outweigh the risk of catching the coronavirus.

“School is a better environment for poorer parents who have to go back to work and are not sure what is happening to their kids,” South African Paediatric Association president Mignon McCulloch said, noting that children were unlikely to develop Covid-19.

“If you have got an orderly school where kids are wearing masks in class and keeping their hands clean ... and the desks are put slightly apart ... the kids are at least getting education and nutrition.”

Easier said than done in this largely rural and poor province, where 60% of schools told local officials they were not “ready” to received more pupils this week.

Sitoromo was particularly ill equipped.

A building was destroyed in a suspected arson attack last year, leaving just seven classrooms for 400 pupils.

“Covid-19 has added to that tragedy,” said economics teacher Letlotlo Motsoeneng, pointing to chronic water shortages and lack of space.

“We are really stressed about our health.”