Staff Reporter
Parents in the Free State are pressing provincial Education MEC Tate Makgoe to give them assurance it will be safe to send their children back to school in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic that is ravaging the world.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced schools, which have been closed since the start of the national lockdown in March, will be opening on June 1, starting with Grades 7 and 12.
The announcement was met with mixed reactions with some saying it was too early to resume school as COVID-19, which forced the country to go into lockdown, was yet to reach its peak.
Others have argued there have not been adequate preparations to ensure the safety of both the teachers and learners.
Makgoe has appealed for patience from parents and learners in the Free State who want to know about the province’s state of readiness to open schools next month.
In a brief announcement on his Twitter account, the MEC said he was still consulting and will make the position of the province known soon at a media briefing.
“Please, bear with us for not immediately announcing to the public our level of readiness to open the schools in the province,” Makgoe tweeted on Saturday afternoon.
“We are finalising consultations with various stakeholders. In due course we will host the media briefing to address the public,” he added, without indicating when the media briefing could possibly be held.
The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) says June 1 is too soon to send children back to school as most provinces are not ready to resume teaching and learning.
SADTU general secretary Mugwena Maluleke told journalists after Motshekga’s announcement that only two provinces in the country seemed ready to open at the beginning of next month, according to a survey the organisation conducted.
“The survey tells us that seven provinces are far from being ready in terms of facilities and in terms of water,” he said.
“The Western Cape and Gauteng are at least ready for the delivery of masks for the teachers and some of the workers but not for the learners.”
Maluleke said there was still a lot of work to be done including the disinfection of schools and the provision of protective gear for both teachers and learners before the opening of schools can be considered.
Schools in rural areas across the country were also found by the survey to be having water supply issues and poor ablution facilities.
“We need more than two months to prepare thoroughly for all these particular things so that we don’t perpetuate the inequalities,” Maluleke said.
Some parents and guardians have also expressed concern that the learners might bring the coronavirus home and spread it to other family members, particularly the elderly with underlying health conditions who currently make up the majority of those who have succumbed to the disease.
Another problem is around the school transport system which has in the past been criticised for overloading.
Under the current lockdown regulations, public transport is limited to ferrying passengers at about 70 percent of normal capacity.