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Western Cape monitoring the situation at schools after reopening on Monday

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The Western Cape government says it is closely monitoring the situation at the province’s schools which reopened on Monday, despite the Basic Education Department’s announcement for classes to resume on June 8.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde says decisions about schooling amid the COVID-19 outbreak will be made according to how the virus affects schools over the next few months.

He says, “Between now and August is the timespan of getting back to full capacity in our schools. We have to make decisions and change those decisions every now and again based on the information that we are getting and using that to apply our minds.”

In the video below, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde speaks about the reopening of schools:

Only a court order will halt teaching

On Tuesday, Western Cape Education Minister Debbie Schäfer said she will not stop anyone from teaching a child unless she is ordered to do so by a court.

This comes after the South African Human Rights Commission threatened to take the provincial education department to court for reopening schools this week instead of next week as per the national government’s pronouncements.

On Sunday, the Basic Education Minister postponed the national resumption of classes for Grades 7 and 12 to next Monday.

In a letter to Schäfer, Human Rights Commissioner Andre Gaum called on the Western Cape to stick to the rules set by National Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and use this week for orientation and ‘mopping-up’ operations to ensure schools open next week.

The Western Cape currently has the highest number of infections with 27 006 confirmed coronavirus cases and 651 deaths.

INFOGRAPHIC: COVID-19 back to school plan:

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