Fed-up union calls for halt to schooling until virus crisis abates

South Africa’s biggest teachers’ union, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), yesterday resolved schools should close amid a peak in Covid-19 cases in South Africa.

The union has requested a meeting with Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga this week and should no resolution be reached on the various issues, it said it would meet with its members and look at withdrawing teachers by the end of the week.

Secretary-general Mugwena Maluleke claimed evidence on the ground showed there was “no effective teaching and learning” at schools during the current conditions.

The decision of the union to call for schools to close for the period was, among others, informed by the winter season, which was also impacting the surge, Maluleke said.

“The rate of community transmissions are impacting on schooling,” said Maluleke.

“The front-line workers who are at the coalface of the pandemic have been infected and affected. We remember all the workers, children and families whose members have succumbed to the virus. We grieve with all our members and every family in our country. We are in a crisis and every life matters.

“We urged the departments to comply with the 14 nonnegotiables that were required by the law before our teaching institutions can resume any activities,” said Maluleke.

“These nonnegotiables would have ensured that the teaching environment is compliant and optimal for school-based activities to unfold in safe conditions.

“All evidence on the ground is that there is no effective teaching and learning that is taking place under the current conditions.

“The pandemic has led to a pandemonium in the education sector and this can be linked to the lacklustre leadership that we have been experiencing from the department of basic education.”

Maluleke said some of the “conspicuous challenges” teachers and school managers faced were:

A significant number of schools are already experiencing a high number of absenteeism due to the anxiety and fear that both pupils and parents are experiencing;

The standard operating procedures for the closure of schools upon the confirmation of a positive case are not being implemented consistently and uniformly across the provinces. As a result, schools are on autopilot and acting outside of the standard operating procedures;

The appointment of substitute teachers to address the high absenteeism due to sick leave has not been addressed and this has put pressure on the limited staff members;

Psychosocial services, now required on an urgent basis to mitigate against the anxiety experienced in schooling communities, has not been effected as earlier committed to by the minister; and

Poor infrastructure continues to define the education of the working child in the townships and rural communities.

“When the debate about reopening schools began it was guided by the science that was explicit that the children were not susceptible to infections,” Maluleke said.

“But so many pupils have been infected and seven have lost their lives.”