Gauteng Education dept ‘happy’ with Covid compliance at marking centres

The Gauteng Education Department says it is “happy” with how Covid-19 health protocols are being observed at marking centres across the province.

This as department officials visited two marking centres on Wednesday.

“We have about 30 centres in Gauteng and we are happy that Covid protocols are observed,” department spokesperson Steve Mabona said.

“Markers are properly screened when they arrive in the morning and during breaks. We observed that the teachers are practicing social distancing and are wearing masks.”

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He said although 800 teachers pulled out of marking exams this week, the department managed to replace them.

“Yesterday, over 800 people informed us that they were not coming; so today we had to replace all of those markers.

“Some could not come because they were Covid-19 positive cases or there were in contact with positive people. So that’s what we have. We were happy that we had started.

“We have now replaced those who did not come yesterday, so we don’t see any challenge when it comes to the marking,” Mabona said.

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He also said that those 800 were easily replaced, thanks to having more teachers on the waiting list.

“We have a waiting list for those who are interested [in marking]. In cases where we don’t have markers, like yesterday; we tapped into our database and give those waiting a call. Today, we replaced all of those who couldn’t make it,” Mabona said.

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