Staff Reporter
South Africa has been forced to push back today’s reopening of schools by a week because a substantial number of schools are not ready as yet to welcome back pupils, Basic Education Angie Motshekga has said.
The last-minute postponement of the resumption of classes for Grades 7 and 12 – which was only announced on Sunday night – followed reports by players in the education sector that raised concerns about the state of readiness.
A number of government schools across the country, especially in rural areas, are reportedly in poor shape as they do not have running water, making hand-washing that is critical to prevent the spread of the coronavirus nearly impossible.
Some of the schools do not have personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep educators and pupils safe in place as yet.
In her much-awaited address that was finally held this Monday, Motshekga pointed to discussions with various stakeholders for the delay in reopening schools.
She said the provincial MECs for education had reported varying degrees of readiness.
Some provinces had been “70 or 80 percent” ready whether it was for the delivery of PPE or the supply of water tanks to schools in need.
The minister said she had also visited various schools last week and witnessed that some were not ready to open.
“I really want to apologise wholeheartedly for the inconvenience caused yesterday (on Sunday). It was out of my control as I had to ensure that all key stakeholders were informed,” Motshekga said.
“I can confirm that by the time I went to certain schools, they were not ready.”
She said after these deliberations it was decided that this week should be used to “mop up” and ensure the delivery of PPE and water to schools in need.
Motshekga said teachers and management were expected back at work especially in areas where they had supplies of PPE.
She said those schools that were ready to receive learners could use this week as induction for the learners and teachers.
“We took the decision that let us use this week to mop up,” the minister said.
“The decision was that there are other key factors around safety and coronavirus which have made it unsafe to reopen schools.”
Motshekga is this week expected to hold more meetings with education MECs, unions and governing bodies to further assess the readiness of provinces.