Staff Reporter
The media briefing scheduled for this morning in Bloemfontein to give an update on the phased in re-opening of schools in the Free State has been postponed to Tuesday.
Premier Sisi Ntombela and Education MEC Tate Makgoe were expected to speak at the event that was to be held at Tsoseletso Secondary School.
Health MEC Montseng Tsiu and the MEC for Social Development, Mamiki Qabathe, were also to give updates in their areas of work aligned to education.
Announcing the postponement, Makgoe posted on his Twitter account that the venue will remain the same.
“Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances, we have postponed the media briefing which was scheduled to be . . . at Tsoseletso SS at 10:00 to
Tuesday, 9 June,” he announced.
No reasons were cited for the postponement, but they could be giving themselves time to ensure schools are ready to receive learners and staff on Monday.
Schools across the South Africa were initially expected to open on June 1, starting with Grades 7 and 12, after they were forced to close around mid-March as the country prepared to go into lockdown due to the coronavirus.
The Free State provincial executive has been going around the province in recent weeks checking on the level of preparedness at different schools.
On Wednesday, Finance MEC Gadija Brown visited Tswelapele Ka Thuto Intermidate, Luckhoff Combined and Luckhoff Primary schools to interact with principals, teachers and School Governing Bodies on the measures put in place and the challenges they may still be facing ahead of the June 8 phased re-opening of schools.
She then proceeded to Koffiefontein where she went to Diamanthoogte Combined School.
The MEC then held a meeting with representatives from other schools, including Koffiefontein Combined, Reikaeletse Secondary and Leretlhabetae Primary.
“The leadership of all the schools indicated that they are above 80 percent ready to resume the 2020 academic year,” said a statement released by her department.
The statement quotes Brown imploring school heads not to leave anything to chance ahead of the re-opening of schools.
“Your approach must be tenacious, robust and dynamic because this is (an) unprecedented time . . . that means we need to be more critical and technical to ensure that learners are safe from the coronavirus when they are at the schools,” she said.
Police, Roads and Transport MEC Sam Mashinini recently visited Lerato-Uthando High School in Intabazwe, Harrismith, to also check the readiness of the school and the staff.
He took a tour of the classrooms to ensure social distancing is being observed as well as other health and hygienic measures to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
Today, Agriculture and Rural Development MEC William Bulwane visited schools in Sasolburg and Deneysville to also check their state of readiness.