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It is no secret that the reopening of schools has been met with much criticism from a lot of stakeholders. However, the department of education has made it very clear that schools will reopen under very strict conditions.
Social-distancing is one of these conditions. Social distancing means that students will maintain a distance of about 1.83m between people.
In a video shared anonymously by parents of Randpark Ridge High School, this has not been a reality.
The video shows students chilling in the school’s property and on the corridors like how they normally would if they weren’t in a global pandemic. The video was taken by one of the students, as students themselves were concerned that the school was not doing enough to ensure the safety of the students.
To date, two students have tested positive for Covid-19 in the school, one of whom was in the said video. The school has subsequently sent out a letter asking parents to encourage students who were in contact with the said student to self-isolate. About 10 students have self-isolated.
The school, however, will not be closing down “owing to the stringent sanitising and disinfecting protocols that we have in place”. According to the principal, the school is deep cleaned at the end of each school day.
Heather Robinson, the school’s marketing, PR and communications consultant advised that the school is aware of the video and acknowledges that social distancing protocols were not followed in this video.
“As a consequence, we have re-doubled our appeals to our learners, their parents, and our staff to observe the protocols to reduce the risk of infection.”
One of the Grade 11 parents has expressed serious concerns regarding this video, noting that it is important for her child to write her exams. That is the sole reason why she has taken her daughter back to school. She is, however, not confident that the school is doing enough to ensure that the safety protocols are adhered to.
According to the parent, there are two school teachers in the video who are not enforcing the health measures strictly.
Before schools reopened, the department of education went on a recruitment drive of employing young South Africans who will be tasked with, amongst other roles, “monitoring compliance (e.g. social distancing and sanitising)”.
The school welcomed its Grade 11 students today and issued them with face shields.
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