No school in abnormal situation

As a social activist, I say no normal school in an abnormal environment.

I am well aware that learners from schoolgoing age as per the constitution and Schools Act should be in school.

I have fought many battles to realise this over the past 20plus years.

My fight was always about a child in school is a child out of court, especially in the gang-ridden northern areas.

My change of mind comes in the light of our new-found Covid-19 disaster that has put the world in a new way of thinking about life and health in particular.

As Pastor Jan Bekkies so eloquently put it, sending our children to school is like literally making a decision between an education certificate and a death certificate.

We as activists in agreement that learners must not go to school do not say that the learners’ education is not important.

We are more than aware that education forms part of any child’s future and therefore success in life.

Preparing educational buildings through deep cleaning does not guarantee the safety of learners who are in themselves social beings prone to touch and socialise in whatever form.

Our schools in a normal educational year function at a limp, with dilapidated infrastructure, toilets and classrooms.

Sending back some learners to school will open the department up to lawsuits.

We appeal to parents to reconsider the decision to send children to the slaughter poles.

Let’s not abdicate our responsibility. We as a nation are not ready for this slaughter of our lambs, our future.