Some parents excited about back-to-school while others experience a nightmare

This has been a crucial week for millions of South African parents with children in school. 24 August marked the return of millions of public school pupils to classrooms.

Some of them have been out of school for five months since the implementation of the lockdown in March. Some have also been unable to access lessons and school content.

Now the country is on Level 2 of the lockdown and it has resulted in the lessening of anxiety for some parents.

Khanyisile Levi, a mother of two, is comfortable that her 13-year-old daughter will be safe because “she can follow instructions.” She is, however, worried that her son in grade 2 will struggle practicing social distancing and wearing his mask.

Also Read: When do Grades 5 and 8 go back to school?

When asked how it felt to have the kids out of the house, Phillipa Parsons replied with an enthusiastic response. “Dropping the kids after 4 months????? Bloody marvellous. Cheers!” Parsons shared.

Unlike Levi, Parsons is concerned about the capacity of her teenage child to keep up with the new schedule. They have a lot of catching-up to do and content to cover for the 2020 academic year.

Either way, parents are happy that things are starting to go back to normal.

For other parents like Lerato Letsie*, the back-to-school experience soon turned into their worst nightmare. Lerato has three children in grades 2, 7, and 9.

After getting to school on Monday, the two youngest ones were requested to go back home because they were coughing. Lerato subsequently tested the two children for Covid-19 and the results came back positive for the child in grade 7.

She went back to school first, so it is unclear where and when she contracted the virus.

There are no reports currently of cases in schools since matriculants reopened a week after they closed on 24 July.

Many other parents are still awaiting the reopening for their children, as each school has a rotational timetable that ensures that not all the kids are on the school premises at the same time.