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Pupils in a classroom. (Archive)
Roger Sedres, Gallo Images
- Sadtu says that keeping schools closed for now due to the second wave of Covid-19 has the support of all unions.
- Schools were to reopen on January 25 for teachers and January 27 for students.
- Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga will brief the nation on the 2021 academic year on Friday.
South Africa’s largest teachers union, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), supports a delay in opening schools amid the second wave of Covid-19.
The union said for the past two weeks that it was raising awareness in the nation that the World Health Organization and UNESCO have highlighted the importance of education, emphasizing that schools should reopen when it is safe to do so.
He added that he believed science and research supported that the numbers must be decreasing for 14 consecutive days for schools to safely reopen.
In an update on Thursday, the union said that after consulting with the Basic Education Department along with other unions, the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) proposed a two-week delay to curb the virus and help the health system. to ride the wave.
READ | Covid-19: the National Coronavirus Command Council wants the reopening of schools to be postponed
“The delay in opening was supported by all unions because it was not based on politics and wishful thinking, but was based on science and solid evidence. Students could report around February 15, 2021, according to [on] the behavior of the virus during the two-week delay, “Sadtu said.
The questions of how teachers will report to work from January 25, as well as preparation, will continue to be discussed in other consultative meetings with the department.
Sadtu said he has asked members who are directors to complete a survey on the topics, which include teachers, personal protective equipment and other health and safety issues.
The union said:
We urge our members to do everything as if we were at Level 5 because we have to help cut the chain of the virus. The school environment is still much better than a birthday party or social gatherings because schools are not over-diffusing and [are] regulated by protocol and provision of life-saving non-pharmaceutical intervention.
News24 reported Thursday that the executive director of the Association of Independent Schools of South Africa (Isasa), Lebogang Montjane, said that various bodies representing schools also met with the department, which indicated that the NCCC recommended postponing the reopening. .
The association said it was in dire straits due to the nature of independent schools and their calendars.
Montjane said that if the postponement of the reopening also affects independent schools, the association will recommend that its members go fully online.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga will brief the nation at 09:00 on Friday on the state of readiness of schools. He is also expected to make an announcement on whether the schools will reopen on the set date of January 27.
