[ad_1]
Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga.
- The Basic Education Department says schools will reopen on January 27, 2021 for students.
- He says he is monitoring the state of the provinces on a weekly basis to ensure systems are in place to deal with the pandemic, even in the new year.
- Education Minister Angie Motshekga says the department will maintain a balance of health and school safety to ensure that gaps for curriculum recovery are filled.
All systems point to the reopening of schools in 2021, the Department of Basic Education said on Thursday.
Education Minister Angie Motshekga said during a press conference that all provinces had finalized admissions processes and would be monitored weekly to ensure systems are in place to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic when schools reopen.
Schools are expected to reopen on January 25, 2021 for teachers and January 27 for students.
Motshekga said the department will maintain the delicate balance of health and safety in schools to ensure that the gaps for curriculum recovery are filled.
The department said it was also working with countries like Zimbabwe, Namibia, Kenya and Rwanda, as well as others on other continents, to build on the lessons that had been learned during the pandemic.
Its chief director of National Evaluation and Public Examinations, Dr. Rufus Poliah, said that 715 candidates tested positive for Covid-19 but continued to write their exams.
He added that the Eastern Cape had the highest number with 542 candidates testing positive.
“But I can assure the South African nation that all these students were accommodated. They wrote their exams in isolation,” Poliah said.
Motshekga said the 2021 school readiness monitoring will focus on health and safety; school admissions; dropouts and teacher benefits.
The 2020 academic year officially ended on December 15 and reports were sent to students.
Motshekga emphasized that schools were not authorized, by law, to withhold reports for any reason.
The minister said the department continued to receive complaints from parents who said their children were not receiving reports.
It added that 1,493 teachers and educational staff died during the year, some as a result of Covid-19.
Youth recruited
Meanwhile, the department announced that it would welcome 300,000 young employees, as part of the Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI), to help out in schools during the new year.
He said that BEEI was looking to address the academic disruptions from Covid-19, as well as address some of the lingering systemic challenges. The assistants will support teachers and students.
Motshekga said the 300,000 job opportunities were aimed at young people to build capacity in schools at least until the end of March 2021.
He added that more than 65% of the recruits were captured and that the month of December and January would be used for training and induction. They will work in areas including ICT, reading, math, robotics, and coding.
READ ALSO | Matrix leaks: Umalusi to determine the integrity of exams in February – Motshekga
The department said its three-year make-up Annual Teaching Plans (ATPs) across all grades would seek to compensate for learning losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic while building on the core content required for the next grade.
“The multi-year remedial plan also ensures that the impact of further learning losses is minimized. The remedial ATPs focus primarily on the core and foundational knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values required in each grade and subject to guarantee deep learning and mastery of content as opposed to superficial learning. ”
Motshekga said the 2022 school calendar had already been published, and a staggered return was proposed where the coastal and inland provinces would return on different dates.
For 2021, students from the coastal and inland provinces will reopen on the same date, but stakeholders have requested a staggered return by 2022.
He said the proposed schedule was available on the department’s website, as well as on its social media platforms.
Did you know that you can comment on this article? Subscribe to News24 and add your voice to the conversation.
