‘It’s a nightmare’
Principals decry lack of direction as schools prepare to reopen
It will be a mad scramble to get schools ready for the return of pupils on June 1 and anxious Nelson Mandela Bay principals say they have heard absolutely nothing from the Eastern Cape department of education.
While the principals expressed anxiety over the reopening of schools — saying there was no clear directive from the department on what to do — the portfolio committee on education met yesterday to discuss readiness.
The principals said this was something that should have been done weeks ago, even before basic education minister Angie Motshekga made the back-to-school announcement on Tuesday night.
Motshekga told the nation schools would reopen on June 1 — starting with grade 7 and 12 pupils — and a staggered approach would follow after the two-month closure.
With only 10 days left before the two grades return, education department spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani was unable to answer detailed questions about the readiness of schools.
But he said it was untrue that the department was not in constant communication with principals on the plans to reopen.
“Our district directors have been constantly sharing instruction notes and circulars the department has been issuing since the advent of the lockdown,” he said.
Pulumani said education
MEC Fundile Gade would issue a statement today on what steps had been taken to get schools ready.
Though Motshekga outlined measures to be put in place to ensure a safe environment, at least eight Bay principals said they were in the dark about what needed to be done on the ground to protect teachers and pupils.
Teachers are expected to return on Monday to prepare.
A Port Elizabeth principal, who declined to be named, said it was irresponsible of Motshekga to make an announcement on television when teachers had to pick up the pieces to ensure the safety of pupils and staff.
“It must be so easy just to say matrics will be back on this date, but then we have to figure all this out ourselves.
“The department is notorious for not helping schools, so what will be different this
time?” he asked. Motshekga said school halls and tents would be used to ensure spacing was not a problem and pupils and teachers would be screened and surfaces sanitised daily.
Another principal said this would not be enough and asked when personal protective equipment (PPE) would be supplied.
“What happens when a child tests positive as there is no PPE and then the school is closed?
“Look how long the police stations are closed while they get deep-cleaned.
“None of this makes any sense, to endanger children and teachers,” she said.
The principal of a Uitenhage school said he was gutted by the lack of communication from the department.
The man, who did not want to be named, said: “My staff have to be back on Monday and we have been left in the dark.
“It is a nightmare.
“I have 40 staff members and the school has not been sanitised, and we don’t know when we will get our PPE.
“There has been no communication at all.
“If we don’t get the PPE, I can tell you that this [reopening of school] will not happen.”
The principal said the school had 850 pupils.
“I have [close to] 1,000 people to take care of and safety is my first concern, not academics.
“If something goes wrong, it is the principals who will take the hiding, not the department.”
The principal said his first intake of pupils would consist of more than 150 matrics and the school was not close to ready.
He said after Motshekga’s announcement on Tuesday night, he had spoken to a number of fellow principals and “what she spoke about is not even close to the situation on the ground”.
Pulumani said the department had placed orders for PPE with the National Treasury on April 20, with delivery expected 10 days later.
“Unfortunately, the National Treasury informed the department on May 6 that they are unable to deliver to the department as the health sector had been prioritised.”
He said the department had then carried out an emergency procurement process, with the deliveries expected to start on Monday and end on Thursday.
“By the time schools reopen, the department will be in a position to provide each learner, teacher and staff member with two cloth masks.”
Pulumani said all school entry points, classes and offices would have sanitisers and screening equipment.
“From [Thursday], a thorough cleaning commences of all our schools through a team of EPWP [Expanded Public Works Programme] recruits from the department of public works,” he said.
Another Port Elizabeth principal, who declined to be named, said he had no idea what protocols would need to be in place ahead of the opening and doubted all schools would have PPE by Thursday.
“We have not heard anything from the department so we don’t really know what to do to get ready at this stage.
“I am glad they are hopeful of making such a massive delivery,” he said, referring to the PPE.
Though he supported the matrics returning, he had doubts about the remaining grades coming back too soon.
“When I have 1,000 children back, that is quite a responsibility in anyone’s hands.
“How do you even begin to manage a situation like that?”
Coselelani Senior Secondary School principal Zamile Futa had a different approach.
“If it were up to us, we would quarantine our matrics at the school,” he said.
Futa said the Motherwell school was ready to reopen for its 35 matrics.
“We are without PPE and the school hasn’t been cleaned, but we are ready,” Futa said, adding that he had been informed by the department that PPE would start arriving on Monday.
Ndzondelelo High School principal Thamsanqa Nkonki said they had 34 classrooms to accommodate the 228 matrics.
“I don’t want to say that we have a shortage of teachers as we have yet to hear the plans of the department.”
At Nkulukelo Senior Secondary in KwaNobuhle, teachers expressed fears ahead of the reopening of schools, saying they did not know what would happen as the school was in a bad way and as the principal had died earlier this month they had no direction.
The teachers said the school, which should reopen on June 1, was not equipped to do so despite having matric pupils who were meant to return.
The school building was damaged by fire in 2016 and while new classrooms were being built on the same grounds they were not yet finished.
Up until the national lockdown, teaching was carrying on in the damaged classrooms.
Nelson Mandela University education faculty senior lecturer Professor Shervani Pillay said the province already struggled with overcrowded classrooms due to a shortage of teachers, so it was unclear how dividingup the pupils even further would work.
“Many schools already had serious infrastructure problems and now they are forced to deal with this pandemic.
“It is going to be a serious challenge.”
She said the announcement of two grades returning was one thing, but ensuring that they actually received a quality education was another.
“You need to have all the logistics and infrastructure in place to come into an environment that would be conducive to learning in the midst of a pandemic.
“During the lockdown, no work appears to have taken place to improve schools.
“How do you expect children to go back now?”
Pillay said it appeared as if the department was in a rush to finish this year’s curriculum.
“A curriculum is not cast in stone and can be changed.
“It is based on what a group of people say is important.
“Some of those things might be important under normal circumstances, but we are not in a normal situation.”
She said the curriculum should be revised.
National Association of School Governing Bodies general secretary Matakanye Matakanye said they had met Motshekga on April 26 and raised “non-negotiable” factors before schools could reopen.
“Those non-negotiable factors included social distancing, PPE, supervisors, transport and sanitisation of schools.”
Matakanye said “rich” schools might have all the necessary safety measures, but their concern was poorer schools.