Motshekga’s wish list offers cold comfort to parents

BASED on Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s address on Tuesday, it would be a brave parent who would send their child back to school on June 1.

As the unions pointed out, much of Motshekga’s presentation was a “wish list”; she was speaking about what she hoped to do rather than what had been done by her department to ensure the health and safety of pupils and teachers on their return to school. Too much was not explained. Even if – and that’s a big if, considering teenage behavioural issues and classroom space constraints – teachers succeed in keeping children apart at school, who will monitor sanitation and distancing measures on the commute to and from school?

If the National Command Council is not ready to ease lockdown measures sufficiently to re-open the economy in a meaningful way, then it does not make sense to re-open schools and put children at risk.

It is also difficult to fault a meme currently doing the rounds which states that MPs are not eager to go back to Parliament, but are happy to send children back into class.

Given the unions’ stated intention to keep teachers out of school unless all their conditions were met, it would be prudent to consider the worst-case scenario and prepare for it – cancellation of the academic year.

“The education unions have called for the non-negotiables to be met before the workers can report for duty, and this is what must be the preoccupation of the department rather than coercing the stakeholders to agree to unrealistic dates”, they said in a statement yesterday.

Their survey of 9 365 principals across the country showed that 79% had not received regulations on how to deal with health and safety issues, 60% had not been contacted by their circuit manager and 92% reported that offices had not yet been cleaned and sanitised.

But we are expected to believe that all of this, plus the provision of water and proper toilets to needy schools, and repairs to 1577 schools which had been broken into around the country, will be arranged in the few remaining days.

Parents should wait for further information on the department’s progress in meeting its own targets before making any decisions which might affect their children’s health.