About 260 grade 11 and 12 pupils from St John’s College in Johannesburg have been asked to quarantine at home for the next 10 days after five youngsters tested positive for Covid-19.
The school asked parents of grade 11 and 12 pupils to fetch them from school at about midday on Thursday after it decided to send them into quarantine.
Stuart West, the executive headmaster of St John’s College, confirmed that five pupils from those grades had tested positive.
“The boys affected happened to be in the first, second and third rugby teams, but it is not clear whether these infections can be traced to sporting activity. We have strict Covid-19 protocols in place and as such we have sent them into quarantine until May 17.”
All protocols and procedures have been followed and adhered to. We wish our young men who have been affected a speedy recovery.
— Stuart West, St John’s College executive headmaster
“No interschool games have happened to date.”
He said their first derby fixture, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday against Pretoria’s St Alban’s College, had been cancelled, along with all sporting fixtures across all codes and age groups for the next 10 days.
West said the school had been in close contact with the Johannesburg health department, adding: “All protocols and procedures have been followed and adhered to. We wish our young men who have been affected a speedy recovery.”
The school’s grades 8, 9 and 10 will continue attending classes.
Meanwhile, basic education minister Angie Motshekga told the portfolio and select committees on basic education recently that a return to the normal approach in which all primary school pupils are at school would be desirable due to the learning losses suffered by the sector.
The department said Motshekga had made it clear that the proposal to return all pupils to school was yet to go through a consultation process with stakeholders that include school governing body associations, teacher unions and civil society.
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