Some Bay schools remain shut
● Safety fears persist as not all in grade 3 and 10 able to return
Though schools across the country were given until yesterday to reopen for grades 3 and 10, several Nelson Mandela Bay school governing bodies (SGBs) said some schools were still not adequately equipped and did not reopen as scheduled.
Citing insufficient personal protective equipment, a shortage of teachers and overall unfavourable conditions, some SGBs are set to meet later this week to discuss a way forward.
There is a possibility that schools that have opened despite shortcomings will be shut after Thursday’s meeting, according to John Walton Secondary School and McCarthy Senior Secondary School SGB chair Donovan Buys.
Buys said schools in Uitenhage and KwaNobuhle were still as unprepared as they were when the department of education announced the reopening of more grades earlier this month.
He said the schools faced teacher shortages because some teachers could not work as they had comorbidities, while others were infected with the coronavirus.
He said most secondary schools in the area, including McCarthy and John Walton, only opened yesterday to obey instructions from the education department.
“Many secondary schools had to risk it and open even thought they aren’t wellequipped because school principals fear that they will get into trouble with the department of education.
“Chairpersons of school governing bodies will meet this week and decide if schools continue to open or not.
“It is now on us because we have attempted to get the department to listen to these concerns but they aren’t coming to the party,” Buys said.
Northern Areas Schools Readiness Programme chair Aarief Davids echoed Buys’s sentiments, saying it was better to keep children at home until they could safely return to school.
Davids, who also chairs the Papenkuil Primary School SGB, said the school was closed yesterday.
“We would rather keep our children at home than end up digging graves for them.
“We opened when the department ordered that schools reopen for grade 7 and 12, but we ended up closing again because many learners weren’t consistently coming to school because they are scared.
“We decided that the best way is to communicate with teachers to come and collect work at school for kids to learn from home.
“Our biggest problem is that they aren’t any substitutes for the teachers who can’t work because they have comorbidities,” he said.
“We have had meetings with school principals to relay our concerns to the department of education, but the department has never responded to us.”
Motherwell’s Imbasa Primary
School and Mfesane High School were also closed yesterday.
Parents at Imbasa protested against the reopening of the school two weeks ago.
Pupils have since stayed home while Mfesane remains closed after one of the teachers tested positive for Covid-19 last week.
Mfesane High School SGB chair Siphiwo Dayimani said it was determined to keep schools closed until it was safe for pupils to return. According to Dayimani, at least 10 schools in the Motherwell area had continued to teach only grades 7 and matric, citing similar concerns.
“We said two weeks ago that schools will not open and we still maintain that because the department of education has not done anything to respond to our concerns.
“Teachers and pupils are testing positive for Covid-19, there is a shortage of PPE and schools don’t have enough teachers to replace those who cannot work,” he said.
Last week, Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane said PPE had been delivered to 93% of the province’s schools by July 10.
At the time, 11 teachers and four non-teaching staff had lost their lives due to the virus in the Eastern Cape.
It is understood that three infected pupils have also died.
The province had already recorded more than 550 positive cases involving pupils, teachers and support staff less than a month after schools reopened.
Eastern Cape education department spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani said all schools in the Eastern Cape received PPE for at least three months.
Thereafter, they were meant to buy it from their budget for consumables, the first tranche of which they had all received in April.
Schools had been made aware of this from the start, Pulumani said, adding that the department was in the process of sourcing shortfalls in PPE for non-teaching staff and food handlers.
He said all schools in Nelson Mandela Bay had indicated their options for a return of pupils by yesterday based on the classrooms and staff available due to Covid-19.
Therefore it was premature to record staff shortages when all grades were not back at school.
In cases where there were comorbidities, the department had agreed to place teacher assistants on a stipend help out.
They would be drawn from unemployed graduates or finalyear teaching students.
Pulumani said Mfesane High school was closed due to new infections.
It would be sanitised and staff would return on Monday.
Imbasa would use an alternative-day approach to accommodate its pupils. Principals and the SGB would preside over the process of appointing teacher assistants.
He said the department’s offices were open and support was provided to all schools, officials and other stakeholders.