Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga: Schools to reopen on the 19th of July
Despite a sharp increase in the number of Covid 19 cases, the Basic Education Minister has indicated that schools are scheduled to reopen in July. The Minister also made it clear that some private schools and other boarding schools should release children.
“Learners enrolled at hostels and special schools have until Friday to be released for their winter holidays.”
The Minister also indicated that they will be closely monitoring the situation at hand. However, in the mix of things all public, private and independent schools must stop teaching and learning on Wednesday.
The new measures were implemented in regards to the new lockdown measures. However, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the winter school holidays will start earlier, as the country battles the third wave of the coronavirus.
Addressing the nation on Sunday night, Ramaphosa said the country will be operating under adjusted Level 4 lockdown restrictions for 14 days.
Speaking during a media briefing, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga had this to say in regards to school reopening in July.
“We will use Thursday and Friday for teachers and managers to close the schools properly. We also agreed that learners in hostels and learners with special education needs waiting for parents to pick them up should report the latest by Friday.
So if you have a child who is somewhere at a special school, please make arrangements that the latest, if not by Wednesday, the latest Friday 12:30 there should not be any learners at hostels or learning facilities”
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga: Schools to reopen on the 19th of July
However, in other news, SA Childcare and ECD Owners SA recently took a swipe at Minister Lindiwe Zulu is failing to protect teachers against COVID-19: ECD Centres.
Independent Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres say Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu is failing to protect teachers in this sector against COVID-19.
SA Childcare and ECD Owners SA recently wrote to the Minister asking her to prioritise them for inclusion in the vaccination programme for teachers. Neither organisation has received a response. Independent ECDs fall under the Department of Social Development.
Jennifer McQuillan, the co-founder of ECD Owners of SA, says while the Basic Education Minister is doing a sterling job ensuring teachers are vaccinated, they are forgotten by their minister.
McQuillan says they feel let down by Zulu as they had to litigate to be able to open during lockdown last year as well as to force the department to pay ECD subsidies and now they are ignored during the teacher vaccination drive.
