Protect our teachers at all costs

WITH thousands of marking centres opening their doors for the marking of matric scripts yesterday, the Department of Basic Education needs to pull out all the stops to ensure that teachers are not infected with the deadly Covid-19 virus as that has the danger of delaying the reopening of the 2021 school year.

It was announced on Sunday that more than 45 000 markers are set to mark matric scripts across the country at more than 181 marking centres.

The department assured the public that it had moved swiftly to revise the safety and health protocols to ensure the safety of everyone involved in the marking process.

It also issued guidelines which outlined all protocols to ensure that the marking continued in line with the Covid-19 level 3 regulations.

The safety protocols include, among others, the screening at all marking venues and accommodation facilities, the barring of sick markers from accessing the venues and the disinfection and cleaning of all marking rooms.

All these safety measures are excellent and should go a long way to ensuring that teachers are not infected.

However, we should not dispute the fact that this is a very complex virus, and when so many people come together there is a high probability that it could spread.

Department of Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga has already raised fears that the opening of schools could be disrupted if teachers continue to succumb to the virus at this rate.

The universities have already announced the postponement of their reopening due to the country going back to an adjusted level 3 lockdown.

We don't want to see schools suffering the same fate.

What is particularly concerning is that the department has not provided teachers with protective equipment such as masks, saying they should make use of what was supplied to them in June.

A great number of educators have already been lost due to the virus during the festive period, the latest casualty being the president of the National Teachers' Union, Allen Thompson.

This is a great loss to the teaching profession as Thompson had dedicated his life to improving the conditions of educators.