Government has spoken, but heated school debate continues to rage
The temporary closing of schools announced last week has caused a lot of confusion and disruption, not only for learners but for school principals, parents and unions. For this, some blame the teachers' unions, who called on Government to effect such a closure. Ockert van Niekerk, the full-time shop steward for Naptosa in George, said there was sound reason for their petitions and denied that the unions wanted to show their strength, or that teachers and education support personnel were unwilling to work.
Some of their compelling reasons for calling for the temporary closure of schools were the rising infection rate in the country, the expected peak period of infections and the problems being experienced with school readiness. "We acted in the interest of all schools, learners and staff, and therefore we welcome the four-week closure of schools..." he said. Kerry Mauchline, spokesperson for the Western Cape Minister of Education, Debbie Schäfer, says they have not received gazetted directions or any further guidance from the national minister yet. She also conveyed Schäfer's response to the threats of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) wanting to close private schools. "For an organisation that claims to have the interests of education at heart, this is in direct contradiction to their expressed mandate. There is no legal basis for private schools to be closed... Cosas' action is thus blatantly unlawful," Schäfer was quoted as saying.
The minister also said they reported the threat to the police and trust that the police will take the necessary steps. Naptosa called on the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to use this period to replenish PPE and non-pharmaceutical materials to those schools that had reopened, and also to ensure the provision of these items to schools to enable them to receive back all grades when schooling resumes. Thirdly, it asked the DBE to ensure that schools that have been unable to open up till now, will be in a position to do so after the current closure period. Van Niekerk said they trust that the minister will continue her engagement with the education unions as there are clearly a number of issues that will require urgent attention in the short term.
Closure disruptive
In George, only a few principals responded to George Herald's request to have their say about this issue. Ruth Muller of New Dawn Park Primary School said she is speechless. "I am worried about our Grade 4 learners who had to move on to the next phase. The first quarter was a bridging phase for them, and they just got use to this new phase. Another worry is that there is still no date for them to return to school. This disruption is stressful for the learners." Conville Primary principal Sam
Crowley believes it was not a good decision to close schools now. "Our learners are already way behind on their work, because they come from previously disadvantaged backgrounds where infrastructure at schools is not high on the priority list of our government." Crowley said the school was struggling to get learner numbers up and to bring back learners on the phasingin dates. Learners had just become used to being back at school and being in a routine, when schools were closed again. Crowley asked parents at his school to send their children back on 11 August. "We will try with special academic programmes to get them back on track. We just need our learners back at school where they can be safe," he said. "We were ready for the rest of the learners to return on
27 July. The school is safe, clean and learners will be in a monitored environment where teaching takes place."
Learners had just become used to being back at school when schools were closed again.