Parents of school-going children have done and still are doing their utmost best to help them keep up with school work at home.
Since the first outbreak of Covid-19 last year, life has ground to a halt and schools are no exception with limited school days.
With South Africa experiencing the second wave of the virus, the National Department of Education announced that school will only resume on 15 February.
While the announcement was a relief to some, others like Maggie Steyn of Ten Acres, whose two children will be in Grade 12 and Grade 7 respectively, are concerned about her children’s education.
Maggie, 48, said she had hoped that this year’s school calendar would be smooth sailing but unfortunately, this is not the case. She hoped that children starting Grade 12 and Grade 7, like hers, would’ve been prioritised to resume classes, as was the case sometime last year.
It is very difficult because there’s so much work that has to be done in such a short period of time,” Maggie said, adding that she is particularly concerned about her Grade 12 youngster who has already missed extra classes and programmes.
She said although her daughter has been proactive and has started doing her school work by using various apps, the content provided via the apps differ.
“We’ve also gone as far as asking teachers if it’s worth subscribing to certain online classes that we have to pay for, and they agree that the content is not the same. This has left us very stressed,” she added.
As far as her Grade 7 youngster is concerned, Maggie went on to say while she assists where she can, she is not a teacher and does not know exactly where to start with the curriculum.
Another mother, Tracy Foster, 35, who has two children in Grade 3 and a toddler in crèche, said she’d rather have her children at home than being out there and being exposed to the virus.
Although concerned about the back-to-school delay, she said her children’s safety comes first.
I’ve already lost a few members of my family to the virus, so I wouldn’t want to endanger my children’s lives. This is something I can prevent and I have a say on,” Tracy said.
