Parents have reacted with mixed feelings to the announcement from Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga that schools will remain open, amidst rising COVID-19 infections.
Motshekga on Saturday said there’s no need at this stage for all schools to be closed, saying the situation will be dealt with on a province-by-province and case-by-case basis.
Over 580 000 teachers, admin workers, and cleaners at public and private schools are expected to be vaccinated over the next two weeks, starting from Wednesday.
One parent told the SABC, “Schools, in general, should be closed, be it private or public. They must be closed until this peak is over.”
Another says, “We all can say let’s close schools and wait weeks and months. But we all know that this virus is not gonna go away.”
“I think it’s fine to deal with it on a case-by-case measure. More efforts should actually be placed in educating learners to be safe this will ensure a decrease in the rate of transmissions at schools, ” says a third parent.
J & J Vaccines
Basic Education says another 280 000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines are expected to arrive this week to supplement the 300 000 doses already here for the inoculation of teachers and support staff.
Basic Education’s Dr Granville Whittle says additional doses will arrive in the country next week.
“We do expect that additional doses will be made available and that those will arrive in the country next week. Together with the Department of Health, we’ve agreed that 280 000 of the additional doses will be made available to Basic Education and these doses are expected to only expire on the 8th of August which means we will have enough time to do the vaccinations as we have agreed that we will conclude this particular programme within a period of 14 days.”
In the video below Minister Motshekga announces that schools across SA will remain open:
