‘We will ensure our schools are safe’

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has admitted to having “sleepless nights” about when to reopen schools.

She made this admission on Sunday after confirming 95% schools were ready to reopen yesterday.

Thanking a range of national and provincial departments, communities, the private sector and the president, Motshekga said: “We must also single out our parents, teachers and pupils, who had to endure the ill-effects of the abnormal 2020 school calendar year.

“We can assure you that your anxieties are ours too; we, too, have spent the sleepless nights you spent. We have done and will continue to do our level best to ensure that our schools are safe.

“All of us are called to do whatever we are expected to do, to ensure that our school communities and spaces do not become the new hotspots for the Covid-19 pandemic,” she added.

Next is the “phased reopening” of public and independent schools, with a cluster of grades returning on 6 July and the last cluster back on 3 August.

“We are in the process of revising the 2020 school calendar year to accommodate the peculiarities brought by Covid-19,” Motshekga said.

She reiterated the legal framework in place still catered “for instances where parents may choose to keep their children at home fearing that they could be infected by Covid-19”.

She said about 95% of schools were ready to reopen. These included: Eastern Cape: 4 660 out of 5 064 schools;

Free State: 1 123 out of 1 123;

Gauteng: 1 917 out of 2 017; KwaZulu-Natal: 5 975 out of 6 000;

Limpopo: 3 711 out of 3 711; Mpumalanga: 1 772 out of 1 815;

Northern Cape: 556 out of 556;

North West: 1 570 out of 1 570; and

Western Cape: 1 816 out of 1 819.

In total, 23 100 schools of 23 675 are ready.

For the remaining 5%, Motshekga said: “Where practicably possible, pupils from the not-so-ready schools will be moved to neighbouring schools that meet the health, safety and social distancing set measures and requirements.

“The teaching and learning programmes provided online will continue and parents who are uneasy to send their children back to school, must follow the law to ensure that their children’s right to education is unhindered.”