WHILE plans are being made for the academic year to resume in schools around South Africa for those in the last year of the primary and secondary phase of school, many parents are still quite worried about how it will all work.
In a statement issued on Wednesday 20 May, the KZN provincial executive council said it welcomed the plan detailed by KZN MEC for education, Kwazi Mshengu.
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“The Executive Council also believes that the future of our country, which is children and young people in general, must not be allowed to be mortgaged by Covid-19 which at this stage appears to become a permanent feature of our lives,” said the statement.
“The Provincial Government assures all parents and stakeholders that all necessary precautions will be taken to prevent infections and that all non-pharmaceutical requirements for preventing the spread of the pandemic such as the cleaning and decontamination of schools, provision of PPE’s and that measures for social distancing will be adhered to.”
At that juncture, the province was working with a date for the return of teachers to schools at the beginning of the next week which bagan on Monday 25 May, in line with the national plan for reopening schools.
Postponed
However, by the weekend this had been postponed to Thursday, 28 May for teachers to return to school with only limited personnel being expected to report to schools on Monday to accept collection of materials needed to prepare for the school’s reopening for Grades 7 and 12 on 1 June.
But, learners and parents alike are quite worried about the return to school and what danger it might pose.
Some schools have sought to allay these fears by communicating with parents and learners, many through the same communication channels they have been using to allow distance learning during the last two months.
However, not all schools are able to do this due to limited resources. While the well-resourced schools are the ones able to communicate and set up plans, those are less likely to be the schools where children might be at greatest risk.
Protocols
Some of the measures the department of education is expecting schools to put into place including strict protocols should learners present any of the symptoms of the Coronavirus (cough, fever, shortness of breath, sore throat and/or fatigue) in which case parents must be keep them at home and the school must be informed immediately should the learner test positive for the virus.
ALSO READ: UKZN prepares for return of students and staff to campus
The new normal school day
Once at school, learners will be taught about the importance of hygiene and sanitising all their work areas including the need for washing hands, maintaining social distancing, and wearing cloth face masks.
Some schools have asked parents to ensure the children returning to school wear a clean uniform every day.
Many schools have been meeting virtually over the past weeks to plan for the reopening of schools and many have set up Covid-19 Task Teams to ensure children and staff are kept safe.
Changes
Among the measures some schools might implement are the staggering of drop-off and pick-up times, limiting class sizes, changing the timetable and limiting the break times and even altering the school hours.
Some schools have indicated to parents that school bags will not be allowed to be carried between home and school and books will not be sent home, so homework will not be done in the usual way.
Parents will be informed by the schools their children attend as to what the so-called new normal school day will comprise.
There are sure to be some variations between schools even in the same areas.
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A solution for matrics
Meanwhile, a learner from Kloof, Jenna McArthur, who is one of the matric class of 2020 at Kloof High School shared her fears and suggestions with the Highway Mail in an email.
“I wish to put forward a proposal, as I am a leader in the school and a prefect and a duty we have is to look out for our students,” she said in the email.
McArthur suggested she and her classmates return to the classrooms for just one day and collect all the work needed to be completed for them to prepare to write the final exams.
“If we return, collect and then do self/online study at home, we can then work towards our exams,” she said.
“Many matrics are afraid to go back and are in fact dropping out, Matrics could then return to write their trials and finals later on in the year and there would have surely been a decrease in numbers and we could be more confident to return for the short space of time.”
As for work missed during the long lockdown, McArthur has a suggestion about how those problems could be solved.
“For any syllabus we missed during the course of the year there may be bridge courses for the learners next year to attain the marks thereafter,” she said.
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