Management of FJL Wells Mine Primary School said they’ve been eager to operate at full capacity even before it was given the green light by government.
After nearly two years of school hours having been restricted due to Covid-19, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced that schools across South Africa were ready for full-time attendance.
Sello Mphatswe, principal of FJL Wells said Motshekga’s announcement was welcomed.
We had anticipated the minister’s plans and worked on gradually bringing back learners to school every day, hence we will operate at 100% capacity with ease,” Sello said.
He added that during the high-alert restrictions they made sure to procure enough materials such as textbooks and furniture, and even built an extra block of classrooms for the school, plus they hired an additional two teachers.
Sello said the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) granted them approval last year to bring back their Grade 7s and 6s.
“We were working on plans to bring back the Grade 4s and 5s even before the minister made the announcement.”
When learners were rotating lessons, Sello felt they were inefficient, adding that some of the learners, especially in lower grades, weren’t proactive enough in their school work, some of them behaving as if they were on holiday. This attitude affected their academic performance negatively.
We as teachers felt the impact first because we had to teach a single lesson for several groups and it was strenuous on educators; it also made it difficult to cover the whole curriculum as expected. This is why we’re glad that the minister has given the green light to the 100% attendance and we hope that we’ll achieve the objective.”
During her media briefing on Sunday February 6, the minister said schools should make sure that they weren’t overcrowded and that the school environment was safe.
