Staff Reporter
At least five learners are known to have succumbed to COVID-19 in the Free State, according to information from the provincial health department.
A presentation prepared but the department this week indicates that between March 26 and August 14, four learners from Lejweleputswa district and one from Motheo died as a result of complications from the acute respiratory disease.
About 38 teachers and two non-teaching staff have also died.
Lejweleputswa again had the highest number of casualties with 14 teachers and one non-teaching staffer losing their lives to the disease.
Motheo lost 13 teachers while Thabo Mofutsanyana had seven teacher casualties and one non-teaching staff member.
Fezile Dabi lost three teachers and Xhariep one.
Despite the casualties, the provincial education department believes it has effective systems in place and it will continue working on them to ensure the safety of both learners and staff.
Spokesperson Howard Ndaba says the phased reopening of schools after a month-long break has progressed well.
“Things went quite well at most schools in the province when Grades 6 and 11 returned to school on Monday,” Ndaba told The Free Stater by telephone.
“We are quite confident most schools are ready to receive learners and we don’t foresee too many challenges,” he added.
About 2 000 people, including learners, teachers and non-teaching staff have contracted the virus and nearly a thousand recoveries have been recorded in the Free State.
Attendance by both learners and teachers has been quite remarkable, according to the department.
Grade 12 learners have averaged 80.1 percent attendance while their teachers sit at about 87 percent.
Grade 7 learners were a bit low at about 71 percent while the teachers averaged 67 percent.
About 842 learners have been exempted from attending classes due to a host of reasons including comorbidities, fear or anxiety and other illnesses.
The learners are being assisted by virtual and other means.
1 Comment
I just hope that there will be high discipline by both Educators and Learners in ensuring adherence to the protocols of Covid-19 in their schools and working together with the school authorities and parents in avoiding any loss of lives in their schools. We need support from all stakeholders and the community at large, together we can deafit this pandemic which is very invisible.