Schools for inland provinces set to reopen for 2022 academic year

The Department of Basic Education has planned for a “comparatively normal” 2022 school calendar in the face of Covid-19.

Learners in inland provinces such as Gauteng, Free State, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West will return to school on Wednesday, January 12.

Schools in coastal provinces such as the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), and the Northern Cape will return only a week later on January 19.

During a media briefing by basic education minister, Angie Motshekga indicated that Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on the education sector over the last past two years.

“We have spoken before about the learning losses incurred as a direct result of the pandemic – from the loss of teaching and learning time to education personnel losing their lives due to Covid-19 complications.

“Working together with our stakeholders, we have been able to return all learners back to school at primary level,” she said.

Motshekga said an important factor that has contributed to the relative stability in the sector was the adherence to Covid-19 health and safety protocols.

“We expect that the same will apply this year, as we intensify the implantation of our recovery programme.

“We need to work together to reboot the system and get it back on track again. It will take time, but a concerted effort is required from all stakeholders.”

The results for the national senior certificate examination for the class of 2021, will be made available on Friday, January 21.

To comply with the provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), the usual practice of publishing the results on public platforms, will not occur for 2021 results.

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The registration for the 2022 matric rewrite examinations opened in October last year and will close on February 15.

Mid-year exams will start on May 9 and end on June 23.

Motshekga also discussed the following points:

– Schools admissions
“The department is aware that there are still under 400 000 learners who are yet to be placed in schools. We will work with our provinces to ensure that we place all unplaced learners as a matter of urgency. We, however, implore parents and guardians to accept the schools in which their learners are placed. When schools have reached their maximum capacities, further admissions become impossible.”

– Vaccination among learners
“Late last year, the Department of Health announced that vaccines were available for people aged 12 and above. We could not run the programme in schools at the time, as end-of-the-year assessments and examinations. We will intensify programmes to get children aged 12 and older to get vaccinated.

– New directions
“To address the matter relating to gatherings, an amendment has also been effected in the directions for the basic education sector. The amendment is with regard to the number of spectators permitted at school sports venues. We intend to announce once stakeholders have made their inputs.

“With regards to schooling, the situation will remain the same, especially rotational time-tabling, where it was applicable when we concluded schooling in 2021. We are exploring possibilities to return schooling to normal, but we need to do so responsibly. At the right time, we will come back to report on progress being made.”

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