No lessons at this vandalised school
PARENT: SAD TO SEE MY KID NOT ATTENDING CLASSES
Diepsloot SGB gives education department until Monday to fix the situation.
As it celebrated its 100% matric pass rate, Diepsloot Secondary School has been “temporarily” shut down as it was vandalised during the December holidays.
More than 1 500 pupils are yet to resume classes while 2021 matrics are accommodated at the nearby Sunrise Secondary School.
Most of the school’s windows have been smashed or stolen; electric cables and power circuits cut; and taps, water pumps, books, lights, kitchen utensils and toilet seats were stolen.
School governing body (SGB) chairman Matome Monyemangene said they have given the department of education until Monday to fix the situation before they mobilise parents and visit the MEC’s office.
“We also don’t have enough personal protective equipment for pupils. The teachers who came two weeks before the reopening of schools had to ask to use toilets in neighbouring houses,” he said.
Monyemangene added that the SGB had written several letters to the MEC’s office but nothing has come out of it. “Even before the school was vandalised, we pleaded with the department to build a proper school for us or at the least fix the toilets, water system and the fence, but nothing has been done. No wonder the school is easily vandalised. These people can walk in and out as they please and we can’t do anything about it.”
Gauteng education department spokesman Steve Mabona told The Citizen the biggest work will be restoring electricity and sanitation at the school. “We have
contractors on site at four different schools. We anticipate to finish the work during the weekend and we hope affected schools will resume on Monday,” he said.
A parent, Linnety Ndiweni, said she was disappointed in the government and the school. “As a parent it’s sad to see your child not attending any classes... I have not had any formal communication from the school why the kids are not going to school,” she said. –
Briefing document to US health regulator reports 66% efficacy for all Covid-19 cases.
Interim results from clinical trials of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine will be presented to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today in an effort to obtain an emergency licence for its distribution.
The FDA’s briefing document reports 66% efficacy for all cases and 85% efficacy for severe cases, as well as a favourable safety profile.
This is the single-dose vaccine currently being provided to health workers in SA under a research licence.
If an emergency licence is granted, it would pave the way for its wider distribution, pending approval by the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority.
While the results of the J&J trial were announced to the media a few weeks ago, this is the first time a detailed analysis of the data has been published.
A phase 3 trial is being conducted in the US (44% of participants), Latin America (41%) and SA (15%). It started in November and is ongoing, but interim data has been released to support the application, given its apparent efficacy, particularly in terms of preventing severe or critical cases of Covid-19.
Analysis was based on 39 321 participants who were followed, with a median follow-up time of two months after they were provided with either the vaccine or a placebo on a random basis.
This is a much older sample than that used in the recent local trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The government abandoned its plans to distribute this vaccine earlier this month after it showed efficacy of only 10% for subjects infected with the dominant SA variant 501Y.V2
Crucially, by 5 February, there were seven Covid-19-related deaths in the study’s placebo group and no deaths in the vaccine group.
Even among participants aged 60 years or older with comorbidities in the vaccine group, there were no Covid-19 cases requiring medical intervention occurring 28 days or more post-vaccination. – GroundUp
Vaccine is being provided to SA health workers