SAOU decries challenges in disadvantaged schools during COVID-19 pandemic

Teacher’s union SAOU in the Northern Cape says pupils from rural and no fee-paying schools will be disadvantaged when schools go back to operating at full capacity.

The union says the majority of schools in the province do not have proper infrastructure such as desks and classrooms to ensure social distancing and the safety of pupils.

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga gazetted amended lockdown regulations which allow for primary school pupils to return to school on a full-time basis from July.

The provincial secretary of the union Henk Brand says,“The majority of primary schools only have double desks and there is no way that you can maintain a social distance when all the pupils return and have to sit [side by side]. Rural schools are poor schools and are no fee-paying schools. They do not have the money to buy PPE on their own. The rural school children will even lag behind further. We are concerned about the wellbeing of the children and that of the teachers.”