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At the end of April, parents breathed a sigh of relief at the news that there was a plan in place to reopen schools over the course of the next few months.

For students in matric or grade seven, this meant the possibility that they could finish the year, and move on to the next stage of their education.

Within an hour of the announcement that things would get going from May 6, however, the Department of Education did an about-turn.

The new statement said that schools would reopen starting with the return of senior management teams (SMTs) on May 11, teachers on May 18, and senior students on June 1.

Sorry, parents, that isn’t the end of the story. According to MyBroadband, the plan may have changed again.

The South African Teachers’ Union (SAOU) and other unions met with Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga over the weekend to discuss the resumption of the school year.

“On Friday, 8 May 2020 it became clear that not one province was able to comply with the COVID regulations, i.e. sanitise the workplaces, provide hand sanitisers, be able to screen the temperatures of persons and to provide two cloth masks to learners and school staff,” said the SAOU.

There’s now a new tentative, revised schedule in place for the reopening of schools:

• 18 May – SMTs report to schools.
• 25 May – Educators report to schools.
• 1 June – Reopening for Grade 12 and 7.

I wouldn’t diarise those dates just yet, because they are subject to change.

No surprises there.

According to SowetanLIVE, there are also factors that have been omitted from the planning process, that the unions would like addressed before things get going again. These include:

• A special focused catch-up plan for grade 12s in the event that June 1 is not feasible for the whole system;
• a progress report on curriculum trimming for all grades and subjects;
• the position of staff members who were over 60 years of age as well as those teachers with underlying medical problems;
• staff members who were pregnant;
• pupils and teachers from neighbouring countries;
• school hostels; and
• what to do with young children of working parents when they return to work.

Another factor delaying the process is the procurement of the necessary equipment to ensure safety in schools. So far, most schools have been unable to acquire the masks, electronic temperature scanners, and sanitisation packages listed as essential to limit the spread of the coronavirus between staff and students.

Teachers are refusing to resume work until these safety measures have been met.

The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) will not allow any of her members to report for duty on Monday because the Department of Basic Education has failed to meet the minimum requirements to ensure safety as per COVID-19 Alert Level 4,” said SADTU in a media statement.

The long and short of it is that with meetings scheduled, kinks to iron out, and an Education Department that is liable to change dates, the exact details still need to be ironed out.

[source:mybroadband&sowetanlive]