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COVID-19 effects in schools to be felt for at least three years: Motshekga

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Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has warned that the effects of the coronavirus pandemic will be with schools for at least three years.

She says although they have trimmed down the curriculum, learners will only finish about 70% of the work they are supposed to do this year.

The remaining 30% will be incorporated into next year’s curriculum, and the work not finished in 2021 will be carried over to 2022.

She says they plan to have the curriculum back to normal in three years’ time.

Motsekga says it would have been a catastrophe if the school year was completely lost.

“Honestly, it would have been catastrophic. For me, it’s even catastrophic as it is to have especially poor kids who do not have access to reading materials and ICT access at home. Since March up to now, they have not been going to school. For me, it’s a disaster. Even when we had trimmed the curriculum we still won’t be able to clawback what we lost. So it’s a disaster. So I think we should clawback the little that we can.”

Motshega monitors the return of matric learners

Motshekga is visiting schools in Letlhabile in the North West to monitor the return of matric learners to schools.

Grade 12 learners across public schools resumed classes on Monday following a brief break.

This after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a week-long break from schooling for matric learners to address surging cases of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

The President said the move was also in line with the WHO guidelines, which warned countries not to reopen schools while local transmissions of the coronavirus are on the rise.

Ten teachers from the Ikatisong Secondary School in the area tested positive for Covid-19 about three weeks ago, forcing the school in Brits to shut down for deep cleaning.

The school has since re-opened.

In the video below, Motshekga visits some schools to monitor the return of matric learners:

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