Department of Education can use the extra time to its advantage
Phumzile Zulu, the PSA provincial manager, said, "It is our view that from March 2020 to date, the DoE has been able to identify its flaws.
The provincial Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) said the Department of Education (DoE) can use the additional time to its advantage. This follows the 2021 school year reopening date having been postponed. This union that represents thousands of educators and administrative staff in schools, said it would be a disappointment to learn of any non-compliance to Covid-19 regulations by any school within Mpumalanga.
Phumzile Zulu, the PSA provincial manager, said, “It is our view that from March 2020 to date, the DoE has been able to identify its flaws. “This is an opportunity to mend what possibly could have been an oversight on their part when the pandemic started in March. Since the second wave has taken over, it cannot be expected that there would still be schools without running water or procurement of the basic Covid-19 equipment such as masks and sanitisers,” she explained.
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“At this stage, it is the opinion of the PSA that the DoE should be at peak performance in ensuring that even rural schools’ infrastructures have been repaired and restored. The recent school holidays and this postponement of the reopening is ample time for the procurement of PPEs, the arranging of Covid-19 task teams and the arranging of rotation timetables in terms of learner capacity in classes,” she said.
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Zulu said the PSA will be in close communication with the department and also monitor the adherence to the regulations. The national PSA had recently released a press statement in which it stated it was optimistic that the Department of Basic Education will be ready by February 15. School management teams went back to school on Monday and educators will return on February 1.
