KwaZulu-Natal’s Department of Education says more than 6 000 public schools in the province are ready to reopen for all grades from Monday.
Schools will only operate at 50% capacity at any given time.
Learners in grades 12, 11, 7 and 6 have already made the return to the classroom.
#ReopeningSchools schedule for 24 &31 Aug. Some schools returned other grades with Gr 12 learners having sought &received approval from Provincial Offices. I want to urge parents to phone their school for more info on procedures & protocols for returning grades @DBE_SA @GCISMedia pic.twitter.com/ReVFrJVmhW
— Dr Reginah Mhaule (@ReginahMhaule) August 20, 2020
The Basic Education Department said earlier that the schooling system is ready to welcome the remainder of the Grades back to school on Monday. It says all schools qualify and meet the COVID-19 requirements.
Spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga says, “The system is ready to receive learners. Where there are issues, they need to speak to district offices so that their issues can be addressed. Those principals that are complaining they should have already reported to the province what is lacking so that they can get the supplies that they need. In fact, the very reason they went back to school first was to make sure they identify all the issues that they need for them to be able to run. But parents must also play their part and release their children to school wearing their masks.”
KZN Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu, addressing the media in Durban on the latest developments on the COVID-19 pandemic in the province, says “Not all grades will come at once because we are also managing the issue of social distancing.
“Tomorrow and Tuesday, we are expecting grade R, grade 1, grade 6, grade 10 and grade 11. Then on Wednesday and Thursday, we are expecting grade 2, grade 5, grade 8 and grade 9. And on Friday we are expecting grade 3, grade 4, grade 10 and grade 11.”
KZN media briefing on the latest COVID-19 developments in the province:
Mshengu says this standardised roster is being announced to minimise confusion. He says from the following week, schools will follow their own timetables.
He has assured parents that learners returning to school for the first time since the start of the lockdown will be provided with two face masks each.
Some deliveries of personal protective equipment in three districts are taking place on Sunday and will continue on Monday.
“Some of them indicated they can only deliver next week because they don’t have stock, others were still waiting for the material. Others indicated they were still for the approval of funding for them to be able to do work. Unfortunately, we couldn’t wait for such because we have our own target as the Department of Education.”
Readiness of schools
Meanwhile, the Professional Educators Union (PEU) has accused the Basic Education Department of failing to consult unions before the re-opening of schools. The PEU says the majority of schools in rural areas are still facing challenges that persisted during previous levels of the lockdown.
The union’s president Johannes Motona says they are not confident about the readiness of schools.
“It is within the policy that they should consult us so that we can discuss issues that are related to the education of the children. We are not confident because if you can see even at some schools now, the issue of social distancing is no longer adhered to. It is a problem because the department is not coming to the party, the department is not assisting schools. They are still experiencing problems especially in terms of human resources.” – Additional reporting by Katlego Nyoni.
