Full attendance in schools to go ahead despite concerns, says Motshekga

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is confident schools are ready for the new normal.

Motshekga briefed the media on Sunday morning after Cabinet approved changes to alert level 1 Covid-19 regulations this week, which saw rotational classes scrapped.

From Monday, primary, secondary and special needs schools will return to daily attendance, with the regulatory provision of one-metre social distancing for pupils no longer in place.

Last month, Motshekga insisted that schools needed to “live side-by-side with Covid-19” after “two years of instability“.

Concerns

During the briefing, Motshekga said the department had “a series of meetings” with various stakeholders who raised concerns over “the state of school infrastructure“, and whether schools will be able to accommodate all the returning pupils.

“Among others, there is the question of the delivery of stationary and textbooks, especially in the Eastern Cape. But they also raised the question of overcrowding, which was a problem that we went to the [National Coronavirus Command Council] with and it was identified as an area that needs urgent and special attention,” the minister said.

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“The other matters that were raised in the meetings included the question about teachers supply… replacing the teachers that we lost during Covid-19,” she said.

Despite these concerns, Motshekga said there was overwhelming support for pupils to return to full attendance at schools.

“This means that the rotational timetable that we have been applying since 2020 does come to an end. [Education] MECs met twice this week and we have agreed that full-time attendance starts tomorrow.”

The department has battled a backlog of 400,000 children that need to be placed in schools – particularly in Gauteng and the Western Cape – for this year’s academic year.

Readiness

She said provinces have made several preparations to their timetables, among other things.

“Provinces have made preparation around the following important areas, firstly we had to communicate with parents to ensure that they understand or get ready [now that] full attendance is resuming.

“We have adjusted the school timetables [as well as] the school assessment programmes. All matters relating to assessments and curriculum have been attended to.

“We have also looked how we are [going to] manage the environment now with the new norm [by] strengthening our non-pharmaceutical preventions [and] accelerating the delivery of infrastructure [in schools],” Motshekga said.

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Motshekga also said that the department would continue to provide transport for some pupils.

“[This is] because now all [pupils] are [going to travel] on a daily basis. [We will also] continue with the provision of school nutrition and intensified monitoring and evaluation oversight,” she continued.

The minister explained that the learning losses incurred in the past two years were “indisputably devastating”.

“At the basic education lekgotla last week, we resolved that the sector would need to be rebooted, recalibrated and repositioned to withstand the debilitating impact of Covid-19 and any other pandemic.

“The first step of addressing the crisis of learning losses is to prevent further disruptions in schools. The second step is to catch up on the time lost as well as the teaching time lost,” Motshekga added.

Vaccinations and sports

She also urged teachers and pupils to vaccinate against Covid-19.

“We do want everybody in the sector to vaccinate. We are encouraging our teachers to go for a booster. We also encourage our young people to vaccinate because we are told that of the 7.7 million qualifying [pupils only] 1.2 million have been vaccinated.”

All children 12-17 years and older are eligible to receive one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, as opposed to the two doses administered to people over 18.

On sports and extracurricular activities, Motshekga said schools are permitted to resume, but they have to comply with the Covid-19 measures in place.

“Choir rehearsals, for instance, and other indoor activities must happen in well ventilated spaces,” she said.

54% of the 2020 school year was lost due to Covid-19