Schools set to reopen but concerns remain around safety

WHILE the provincial Department of Education said it was all systems go for the reopening of schools on Monday, stakeholders still had concerns about the state of readiness.

SA Democratic Teachers’ Union provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluza said they had a meeting with Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu’s Command Council last Friday where the department presented on their state of readiness.

“Everything looked to be good on paper, but in practice there were many concerns. One was that there were schools which did not have enough teachers. This meant that there would be pupils who would not have any teachers to teach them,” she said.

Another concern, said Caluza, was how the department was dealing with teachers who had comorbidities and how they would be supported.

They were also worried about how schoolwork was received by teachers through Whatsapp messages on groups and via emails. Caluza said some teachers did not have enough data for the vast amount of work they received through these communication channels.

President of the Educators Union of SA, Scelo Bhengu, said for things to go well in the education sector, Basic Minister Angie Motshekga needed to go.

“Schools are not ready,” he said. “If the government had ensured there was proper online learning then schools would have started teaching a long time ago and there would have been no need to start schooling so late in the year.“

Vee Gani, chairperson of the KZN Parents’ Association, said: “If schools have PPE (personal protective equipment) and all their protocols followed, then they should be ready to open.”

Gani said schools should not be dependent on the government but should try to source some of the materials on their own.

DA spokesperson on education Imran Keeka said the reality was that the department still had serious challenges. He said there were still schools that did not have proper access to education. Keeka felt schools which were ready should be allowed to open, and those that were not must stay closed.

“The plight of pupils is further aggravated by the fact that there are 120 000 pupils in our province eligible for scholar transport, yet continue to be denied this service. Sadly, many of our pupils are already faced with huge challenges. It’s imperative the province’s Department of Education makes life easier for them, rather than harder,” he said.

Provincial Education spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said: “Come February 15, we will be ready to re-open.” He said when it came to PPE, the department did not deliver some because there was no safe place to store it at some schools.

Mthethwa added that sometimes they did not send PPE to be stored at schools because there was a real fear of criminals targeting schools, because they received information about the PPE being stored there.

“Some of the PPE will be delivered on the week of schools opening.”

Premier Sihle Zikalala confirmed that schools in the province were ready to open for the 2021 academic year. He said considerable progress was being made to address minor outstanding issues. Oversight committees would visit schools on the first day back.

“The main aim is to have the first lesson during the first hour of the first day of school,” he said.

The department has also confirmed that a media briefing on the approval of the results of the 2020 national exam was expected to be held next week.