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KZN legislature to hand over status report on resumption of school

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Members of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature will hand over a report to the provincial education department about the status of the resumption of school progress.

While many schools in the province are adjusting well after re-opening for grades 7 and 12 amid the COVID-19 pandemic gaps have been identified in the system, including provision of water and sanitation, and how to allocate school furniture to ensure social distancing in classrooms.

Three schools, Savannah Park Secondary, Apollo Secondary School and Clairwood Secondary School in Durban have temporarily closed due to COVID-19 cases.

MPL Les Govender says, “What we found was that the schools that do not have things like running water as well as good toilet facilities, we were really impressed that the management of the school was really making alternate plans…”

“They were actually putting things in place that really amazed us in terms of their creativity and innovation that they were able to come up with in order to ensure that learners do have water and are able to sanitize their hands. We found that the department applied all the PPEs that the schools required,” added Govender

Meanwhile 31 schools across the Eastern Cape, mostly in Buffalo City have been closed after 20 people tested positive for COVID-19.

Fifteen teachers, three learners and two non-teaching staff tested positive for COVID-19.

Provincial Department of Education spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani says some were closed for cleansing and tracing. He added saying, there is no need to panic, but any person experiencing symptoms should report it to the school.

Pulumani says, “Cleaning or fogging does kill the disease on the school surfaces. Our school support teams have been trained and capacitated with PPEs and cleaning agents to attend to any case that necessitates closure of the school…

“Schools do not need to be closed for an indefinite amount of time as cleaning occurs. After advice from the Health Department on who needs to isolate and cleaning has been done, schooling can resume. Adherence to these operating procedures is non-negotiable.” says Pulumani.

In Bloemfontein in the Free State, a learner has also tested positive for COVID-19 prompting the quarantine of 19 of other grade 12 learners.

In the video below the details are provided:

 

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