WHO’s advice on Eswatini schools opening
MBABANE – Eswatini has been listed under countries currently experiencing a resurgence of the COVID- 19 pandemic.
Following this status, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation ( WHO) Regional Director Africa, said there needed to be a lot of caution to apply before the country reopened schools.
Dr Moeti was responding to a question asked specifically about the increasing infections among people aged between zero and 19 years in Eswatini and her position regarding the reopening of schools.
This includes making sure that the prevention measures; the distancing; wearing of masks could be put in place effectively in the country so that there were no young people who were at school being the source of infection to those who are more vulnerable, before the vaccination of older people who are more vulnerable to illnesses can take place.
“And I think that Eswatini is among the countries that are experiencing what we call a resurgence, so it is a balancing act and the government needs to weigh this very carefully and I would say that of course we would want children to go back to school.
GIRLS
“We want girls especially to go back to school so as to minimise the risk of children dropping out of school forever, which is a huge risk in the current situation. But we sadly would advise against doing this without putting in place the proper prevention measures to ensure that this does not worsen the overall situation in the country. And we know the measure to put in place to ensure this.”
Dr Moeti said all countries were faced with this dilemma between allowing life to return to normal and really covering some of the gaps that have been imposed by the lockdowns in all spheres of life; the economy, education, which was a big concern; and other socio- economic activities against the risk of worsening the situation in terms of transmission.
She said for certain that if young people would be going back to school, which was a very important objective, then there needed to be a lot of investment in ensuring that this did not result in superspreader events within the classroom and children taking the infection back home where they were likely to infect adults who may be vulnerable to falling seriously ill and dying.
“I think that is the logic. So each country needs to look at its own situation: what is the risk of increase of cases,” she said.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini noted that the education sector had been severely affected by this pandemic for over a year now.
“I will soon be making an announcement on the opening of schools. In the meantime, the Ministry of Health will be working in collaboration with the education sector to start vaccinating teachers and education workers next week,” he said.
VACCINATION
Secretary General of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers ( SNAT) Sikelela Dlamini told our sister publication that they anticipated the opening of schools to take place after the vaccination of all teachers.
He said this would minimise the transmission of the virus between the over 16 000 teachers and pupils.
The Ministry of Health said they presented the situation to the Ministry of Education and Training, which should know the status of compliance to the COVID- 19 prevention SOP that they have developed when schools opened. “They also have the detail of resources and plan to assist schools that may need support. As Dr Moeti indicated, opening and continuation of schools is heavily dependent on the compliance level to prevention measures.”