The grade three and ten learners are expected back in class on Monday morning, but the African National Congress (ANC) says the re-opening of schools should follow the guidelines set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Currently South Africa is amongst the top five countries with high infection rate of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world.
It is only the United States, Brazil, India and Russia that have surpassed South Africa with the rate of infections.
But all eyes are now on the governing ANC as the country sees exponential rise.
The re-opening of schools has become a hot political topic in the country.
In this video below, debate on schools’ reopening rages on:
And at the centre of it, are the lives of learners and teachers and by extension the broader society.
While government has decided to go ahead with phased re-opening of schools, the voices of those opposed to the decision have also gone louder.
But the governing party clearly does not want to contradict its government, except to call for the World Health Organisation’s guidelines to be taken into account.
The WHO has said schools should ideally open in the context of low community transmissions, and this is not the case with South Africa at the moment.
But the party’s Women’s League appears to be frustrated that its view on the school re-opening is not being taken seriously.
As more and more learners are expected in class on Monday morning, five teacher unions including the ANC aligned SADTU have called for the suspension of the school re-opening.
Student organisation Cosas on the other hand has mobilised learners to protest against the school re-opening.
As the political bickering continues on the school re-opening, all eyes will be on the meeting of the ANC Top Six Officials set to take place later on Monday morning.
But Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga has made it clear a decision on whether schools should close again, rests with cabinet.
