As pupils return, government vows to help them deal with Covid trauma

On Monday morning, pupils across SA will button up their school shirts, straighten their ties and neaten their hair. They will make their way to class and prepare to greet their friends, classmates and teachers.

But many of these children will do so “traumatised” by Covid-19. They will need extensive psychological services to deal with the loss they experienced as a result of the pandemic.

Some will, said department of basic education director-general Mathanzima Mweli, have lost family members to the virus, others will have lost friends and teachers.

During a press briefing on school readiness on Sunday, alongside basic education minister Angie Motshekga, Mweli said many pupils were in need of psychosocial assistance to help them cope with the effects of 2020, which he described as “an extraordinary year” for many South Africans.

“The demand [for psychosocial services] has been huge for teachers and the demand is going to be even higher for learners as learners return, having been traumatised by the fact that they would have lost a loved one, would have also been infected and so on, and would have lost a teacher.

“So we are working with NGOs. We’ve also brought in online services that will come in handy to provide for this. We are also working with faith-based organisations because they are very good in this area. So we’re going to keep monitoring this and make sure that the necessary support is provided,” he said.

Mweli added that many pupils, including those in special schools, have no access to therapy.

As part of its support system for pupils, Mweli said they will be provided with such to help empower them with skills on how to cope with the stress, anxiety and trauma caused by the pandemic.

Pupils will also receive counselling support as part of the mental health programme.

We are meeting regularly with the Association of School Governing Bodies, professional bodies, which includes professional bodies that represent schools for learners with special education needs, psychosocial services ... It’s a major area for us.

—  Department of basic education director-general Mathanzima Mweli

“Many of them don’t get to access to services and that slows their development and their wellbeing. We are happy they are coming back and will be able to get all the services back.

“And, as I’ve said, we are meeting regularly with the Association of School Governing Bodies, professional bodies, which include professional bodies that represent schools for learners with special education needs, psychosocial services ... It’s a major area for us.”

The department is filling social worker and psychologist vacancies at district level.

Teachers, too, will be assisted through the employee wellness programme and receive remote and face-to-face support.

Not only is Covid-19 taxing mentally for pupils and teachers, but it has also had huge financial consequences for the department.

Mweli said they have to manage Covid-19 essential stocks, such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning products, carefully to ensure no schools run out of these essentials, as well as rearranging budget priorities.

“The economy is not growing and the pandemic just exacerbated the fiscal situation. And money is not readily available to deal with all of these things. We had to actually take money allocated for infrastructure to procure Covid-19 essentials.”

However, he and Motshekga are convinced schools are ready to open on Monday.

But more than 16,000 grade 1 and 8 pupils will not be able to go school when the gates open because the basic education department is grappling to find places for them.

Motshekga said while almost all schools are ready and provinces have made good progress placing pupils, there are “still 16,117 learners awaiting spaces in schools”.

“The demand for space in schools, especially in grades 1 and 8, remains a challenge for the [education] sector. All provinces are experiencing a high demand in particular areas,” she said.

The minister added that 67 schools across SA have not reopened, mostly due to severe storms and flood damage.

Also at the briefing, the result of a months-long investigation into the leaked matric exams saga was presented. It found that while the true extent of the 2020 matric examination leaks might never be known, officials investigating these irregularities are emphatic that the exams have not been compromised.

Speaking on Sunday, Hugh Amoore, chair of the national investigations task team, said an extensive investigation was done into the leaks of the mathematics and physical science papers 2.

“Based on available evidence at the moment, from investigating marking, statistical analysis and interviews, widespread leaks did not occur,” he said.

Amoore said the investigation into the leaked maths paper found that 235 matric pupils were in WhatsApp chat groups where questions from the exam — or the full exam — were shared. In the case of the physical science paper, the exam or parts of the exam were sent to groups with just 62 pupils. However, there was no guarantee the papers weren’t spread beyond these pupils, he said.

“From this evidence, the leaks were limited to a very small numbers of learners.

“What we can say with confidence is that there has been no compromise to the integrity of the 2020 combined exam as a whole. While the integrity of the two papers has been marred ... it has not been compromised overall,” said Amoore.