Curriculum to be readjusted after schools lose entire term

TEACHERS and pupils had lost an entire term as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown, which would require the curriculum to be adjusted in order to catch up, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga (pictured) said on Monday.

“We have lost a whole term, because March to June is the second term, and we will likely be losing more days to the virus,” Motshekga told a media briefing.

This meant that the department would have to ensure a realignment of the school curriculum, she said. Officials at national and provincial level had already started tweaking it, with the help of academics, she added.

Motshekga said the lockdown imposed in late March in response to the Covid-19 pandemic had seen jobs lost, families “traumatised” and the education system come to a standstill.

For schools to reopen, a “new environment” had to be created, said the minister. The Department of Basic Education had faced a lot of uphill in the process, she said. “It has caused a lot of difficulties.”

On Sunday, Motshekga announced a one-week delay in sending Grade 7 and 12 pupils back to school after education unions objected, saying many schools had not yet been fully provided with necessities that would stop the spread of the virus.

She said on Monday, however, that the preparations for reopening must be completed during the course of this week.

“The ongoing cleaning of schools should be finalised within the week of 1 June, 2020.”

The Western Cape on Monday began opening classrooms for the two grades in question as planned.

Its provincial Department of Education told the African News Agency that some 93 000 Grade 7 and 12 pupils were scheduled to return, but they would have more precise figures later in the day as to how many actually reported for their first day back since March 18.

– African News Agency