Some schools telling learners to go home due to lack of PPE

Some across the country are reportedly turning learners away as Grade 6s and 11s return to class on Monday.

Parents went on Twitter to complain over their children being told to go home due to the schools lacking personal protective equipment (PPE).

According to one user, some schools are reportedly allowing 40 learners in a classroom despite only 20 learners being allowed to be in one class in order to maintain rules of social distancing.

There have been reports of ongoing protests on Monday morning outside the Protea South Primary School in Soweto.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has been trending on the platform since she announced on Sunday that only Grade 6s and 11s would return to the classroom while institutions that were ready for the return of Grade Rs were allowed to reopen as well.

The minister noted, however, that all Grade R learners will be back at school by the end of July.

Twitter users were also seen calling for Motshekga’s head, urging government for her to be removed as minister from the department of education along with from various interested parties and some unions, due to her handling of the back-to-school transition.

This also comes in light of recent reports suggesting that a pending Cabinet reshuffle was on the cards for government.

Motshekga confirmed that 968 of the country’s 26,000 schools across the country were forced to close and re-open because of Covid-19 since classes resumed for Grades 7 and 12 on 8 June, while three learners, some of whom were not at school, died in the process.

Meanwhile, the National Teachers’ Union (NATU) and Democratic Alliance (DA)  raised their concerns over additional teachers not being recruited to assist in teaching split classrooms or substituting for teachers with comorbidities, who were at a higher risk of complications if they contract Covid-19 and might be required to self-isolate.

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