Angie Motshekga on school safety, PPE and transport

Basic education minister Angie Motshekga on Sunday spoke about the reopening of schools on June 8.

Pupils in grades 7 and 12 returned to school on Monday for the first time in three months due to the lockdown and Covid-19 pandemic.

Here are five critical points from Motshekga’s address:

No child will be left behind

The department will focus on schools which have not been provided with the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) so all children receive education.

“We can now say with confidence that about 95% of our schools have been provided with the Covid-19 related imperatives. The sector, with the assistance of our partners, will strive to deal with the remaining 5% to ensure the unfettered rights to health, safety and basic education for all South Africans are protected.”

Public participation

Members of the public, the private sector and some government departments helped to ensure schools were ready to reopen on Monday.

“I want to thank members of the public from different communities who joined us and assisted us in different areas. There was also lots of support received from the private sector. They made huge contributions in terms of sanitisers and masks. The department of safety, water and sanitation and the SA National Defence Force also assisted as we couldn’t transport goods to schools and had to be escorted.”

Different stages of readiness

Provinces initially classified as high risk have improved.

“The number of provinces which were initially classified as high risk has improved. There is no province that is now high risk. They are medium risk. Different provinces are at different stages, depending on a number of factors that are there.”

Vandalism

Some schools were not ready to open due to vandalism. As of Sunday, 1,672 schools had been vandalised countrywide.

“Among the problems that delayed us were issues of vandalism. Even during the course of this week, we had quite a number of schools broken into. We received reports that people broke toilet seats and removed taps just to disorganise us.”

Scholar transport

Transport services will be required to observe safety measures, including social distancing and hygiene.

“We are cooperating with the department of transport to ensure that pupil transport provided does meet the required health, safety and social distancing measures. This will include scholar transport for pupils with special education needs.”