The provincial department of education needs to stop passing the buck and make a final decision to either scrap the academic year or open schools to other grades in September.
This is the sentiment of Northern Areas Education Forum chair Richard Draai after hearing about education MEC Fundile Gade’s request to the national department of basic education to deviate from the prescribed phasing in of grades.
Draai said education minister Angie Motshekga was playing with numbers and that he believed the situation was out of control.
“I keep with the stance to scrap the academic year for non-school leaving grades,” Draai said.
The Eastern Cape department of education issued a statement on Sunday evening saying that special instructions had been sent to unprepared schools across the province not to allow pupils aside from grade 7 and matrics back today.
The statement, confirmed by the MEC’s spokesperson, Vuyiseka Mboxela, was sent out after Motshekga held a media briefing on the provisions for opening schools to other grades.
Gade’s request followed consultations with various stakeholders in the province, including the department of health.
“We have to pay attention in particular to the safety of the learners and teachers, the actual quality of teaching and learning, prioritisation of the exit grades, among others,” the statement read.
“Our superintendent general Themba Kojana has issued an Instruction Note 37 that says grades 3, 6, 11, Schools of Skill years 2, 3 and other years in the special schools category will only come to school on July 20.
“While we have come to realise that Covid-19 is not just a matter of the department of health but requires our collective wisdom as the entire government of the Eastern Cape, the recent developments of infections of our teachers, non-teaching staff and learners requires critical thinking and a detour from those bestowed with a responsibility to lead the populace of this province.”
Mboxela confirmed on Monday that the instructions sent out by the provincial department did not bar schools from reopening to other grades, but allowed those that did not have the necessary protective provisions in place to do so.
“If the necessary provisions at some schools are not yet in place, we are giving them until July 20,” Mboxela said.
If schools met the guidelines and provisions, then they could accept pupils from other grades without any major backlash from the department, Mboxela said.
According to Gade, the advice received from the department of health suggested that the provincial department of education would need to continue to take tactical detours and rescind some decisions, not because they were not ready to deliver the curriculum but rather to balance the lives of those in the front line as workers and pupils.
Parents who were not willing to or happy about sending their children back to school did not have to do so, Mboxela said, as long as the necessary applications and paperwork had been done.
Meanwhile, Draai said he would be having a meeting on Tuesday with schools in the metro’s northern areas to see exactly what the situation was.
According to Draai a number of schools in the northern areas remained closed, not even allowing teachers to attend the schools which he claimed was going against the Schools Act.
“It is not the right thing to do [but] after tomorrow’s [Tuesday’s] meeting we will discuss the thinking and rationale behind this,” Draai said.
Uitenhage-based John Walton Secondary and McCarthy Senior Secondary School’s school governing body chair Donovan Buys said they had made the decision to not open the schools for other grades on Monday as the schools were not yet ready.
“At McCarthy we have a shortage of PPE which we addressed with the department three weeks ago and said pupils would not return until PPE is provided, and it hasn’t been provided.
“The department had provided PPE only for grade 12 pupils and none for the staff who would be there with them, so we had to give staff PPE from the grade 12 batch and that resulted in a shortage for grade 12’s.
“We will not open until the issue is resolved,” Buys said. — Additional reporting Zamandula Malonde
‘End confusion over reopening of school year’
Image: 123RF/PAYLESSIMAGES
The provincial department of education needs to stop passing the buck and make a final decision to either scrap the academic year or open schools to other grades in September.
This is the sentiment of Northern Areas Education Forum chair Richard Draai after hearing about education MEC Fundile Gade’s request to the national department of basic education to deviate from the prescribed phasing in of grades.
Draai said education minister Angie Motshekga was playing with numbers and that he believed the situation was out of control.
“I keep with the stance to scrap the academic year for non-school leaving grades,” Draai said.
The Eastern Cape department of education issued a statement on Sunday evening saying that special instructions had been sent to unprepared schools across the province not to allow pupils aside from grade 7 and matrics back today.
The statement, confirmed by the MEC’s spokesperson, Vuyiseka Mboxela, was sent out after Motshekga held a media briefing on the provisions for opening schools to other grades.
Gade’s request followed consultations with various stakeholders in the province, including the department of health.
“We have to pay attention in particular to the safety of the learners and teachers, the actual quality of teaching and learning, prioritisation of the exit grades, among others,” the statement read.
“Our superintendent general Themba Kojana has issued an Instruction Note 37 that says grades 3, 6, 11, Schools of Skill years 2, 3 and other years in the special schools category will only come to school on July 20.
“While we have come to realise that Covid-19 is not just a matter of the department of health but requires our collective wisdom as the entire government of the Eastern Cape, the recent developments of infections of our teachers, non-teaching staff and learners requires critical thinking and a detour from those bestowed with a responsibility to lead the populace of this province.”
Mboxela confirmed on Monday that the instructions sent out by the provincial department did not bar schools from reopening to other grades, but allowed those that did not have the necessary protective provisions in place to do so.
“If the necessary provisions at some schools are not yet in place, we are giving them until July 20,” Mboxela said.
If schools met the guidelines and provisions, then they could accept pupils from other grades without any major backlash from the department, Mboxela said.
According to Gade, the advice received from the department of health suggested that the provincial department of education would need to continue to take tactical detours and rescind some decisions, not because they were not ready to deliver the curriculum but rather to balance the lives of those in the front line as workers and pupils.
Parents who were not willing to or happy about sending their children back to school did not have to do so, Mboxela said, as long as the necessary applications and paperwork had been done.
Meanwhile, Draai said he would be having a meeting on Tuesday with schools in the metro’s northern areas to see exactly what the situation was.
According to Draai a number of schools in the northern areas remained closed, not even allowing teachers to attend the schools which he claimed was going against the Schools Act.
“It is not the right thing to do [but] after tomorrow’s [Tuesday’s] meeting we will discuss the thinking and rationale behind this,” Draai said.
Uitenhage-based John Walton Secondary and McCarthy Senior Secondary School’s school governing body chair Donovan Buys said they had made the decision to not open the schools for other grades on Monday as the schools were not yet ready.
“At McCarthy we have a shortage of PPE which we addressed with the department three weeks ago and said pupils would not return until PPE is provided, and it hasn’t been provided.
“The department had provided PPE only for grade 12 pupils and none for the staff who would be there with them, so we had to give staff PPE from the grade 12 batch and that resulted in a shortage for grade 12’s.
“We will not open until the issue is resolved,” Buys said. — Additional reporting Zamandula Malonde
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