MEC to monitor stayaway response

EDUCATION MEC Debbie Schäfer has vowed to monitor all schools in the province after One SA Movement (Osam) leader Mmusi Maimane called on teachers and pupils to take part in a national school stayaway protest today.

Schäfer said there had been many threats against schools reopening. To date, none had been successful.

Maimane is taking his campaign to see school gates shut in the wake of rising Covid-19 infections to the street, having been thwarted by the courts.

ANC deputy chief whip in the provincial legislature and the party’s spokesperson on education, Khalid Sayed, said: “I can certainly sympathise with Maimane’s call as more teachers are being affected by Covid-19.”

However, Sayed said teachers ought to take the direction of their unions and consider all implications on their own career security.

Maimane said in protest of the return to schools, Osam had called for national #SchoolStayAway from all schools and places of learning.

“This is for all parents, pupils, teachers and school staff who believe schools are unsafe and should remain closed until basic safety measures are in place. We appeal to you to take back your power from the government and stay home today.

“We believe a national stayaway will send a strong message to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and the national government, showing that thousands of concerned citizens, parents and teachers are opposed to unsafe reopening of schools and the risks it poses,” Maimane said.

“Motshekga must reverse her decision to reopen schools. It is a rushed and ill-advised decision, unnecessarily putting lives at risk.

“The fact is that not all schools are ready to safely reopen, and doing so has already put in danger the lives of pupils, teachers and support staff as Covid-19 infections continue to rise,” he said.

The Public Servants Association’s spokesperson, Reuben Maleka, said the association had learned that pupils were testing positive in a number of schools, where there was an endeavour on the part of principals and circuit offices to hide these infections which compromised the lives of pupils and educators.

Maleka said both private and public schools were experiencing similar challenges of positive infections, hence they called for the closure of schools to ensure decontamination of the schools to contain the spread of the virus.

“We believe a national stayaway will send a strong message

Mmusi Maimane

ONE SA MOVEMENT