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Not all Gauteng schools will reopen on Monday: Lesufi

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Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi, says not all schools in the province will reopen on Monday.

He says there are some challenges that need to be attended to before learners could be allowed to go back to school.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga recently announced that all schools should be ready to welcome teachers and learners on June 1.

Lesufi says some schools have not received Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) as required by the department.

He says, “The timelines were too tight just to open schools within a week, we must get PPEs, must get teachers, must get everyone. There are some institutions where we received reports that we feel that they might not open on Monday. For example, there is a school in Ekurhuleni where the community has literally stolen the entire fence and with this disease, you can’t allow anyone to come through and learners must go through a certain gate for them to be tested and screened, but if there is no fence everyone will just go straight to the classroom.”

PPEs to be delivered to schools before reopening

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says personal protective equipment will be delivered to schools before learners return.

Grade 12 and Grade 7 learners are set to return to classrooms on Monday.

Speaking while checking the readiness of schools to reopen in Pretoria, Motshekga says schools across the country have ensured curriculum and staffing issues have been resolved.

She has expressed confidence that schools will be fully cleaned, sanitised and prepared for learners to return.

“What is remaining, is to get PPEs to be delivered, they will arrive. People will come and clean. There are youth brigades who will come in their numbers to come and tape. But the difficult part is done, the staffing, curriculum…”

In the video below, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga visits Ivory Park Secondary School:

Northern Cape teacher unions welcome delay of reopening of schools

Teacher unions in the Northern Cape have welcomed the provincial education department’s decision to delay the reopening of schools for Grade 7 and 12 learners to June 8.

The department took the decision after it was found that schools were not ready to welcome both teachers and learners back.

It conducted school inspections on Wednesday, which found that schools are not clean, PPEs are yet to be delivered, water points are not installed and ablution facilities are not ready.

The Professional Educators’ Union’s Neo Letsholo and the Suid Afrikaanse Onderwyser Unie provincial secretary Henk Brand believe this is the best decision based on the prevailing circumstances. –Additional reporting by Neo Bodumela

INFOGRAPHIC: COVID-19 back to school plan:

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