racism Gauteng COVID-19

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi. Image via: Jairus Mmutle/GCIS

Gauteng ready to welcome back learners, says Lesufi

The MEC said there were still disruptions to schools, particularly in Pretoria and Johannesburg and that they have roped in the relevant law enforcement agencies to assist

racism Gauteng COVID-19

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi. Image via: Jairus Mmutle/GCIS

Gauteng’s Education Department intends allowing the return of two grades per week, with the hope of having all learners back in the classroom by the end of August 2020, MEC Panyaza Lesufi has said.

The MEC said this was to help pupils prepare for the end of year academic support programme.

Lesufi was part of the Gauteng Coronavirus Command Council which gave an update on the latest COVID-19 developments on Friday, 7 August 2020.

“From the onset we indicated that from the education sector, the most important aspect is safety first…That we’re going to make sure in whatever decision we take, we must ensure that all our learners are safe”, Lesufi said.

A total of 598 schools opened their doors to Grade 12 learners, while 24 others couldn’t. While the MEC didn’t specify, he said five of them couldn’t reopen due to issues involving infrastructure and another 18 remained closed. Eight schools were forced to suspend academic activities because of disruptions either by parents or learners, Lesufi said.

Lesufi: 2 635 positive cases recorded in schools

The MEC said 714 learners and 1671 educators had tested positive for COVID-19, as well as 165 staff members – which totals more than 2 500 COVID-19 cases the province’s education sector had recorded.

The attacks on schools have also continued as eight facilities were broken into which affected reopening of certain schools.

Lesufi also said the department was continuing with its food distribution programme, which had to be rolled out again – after being on hold in the wake of the lockdown. A successful legal bid by Equal Education compelled  the department to continue with the initiative.

“We are doing very well, between the periods that we closed, we had 166 000 learners that received school nutrition, unfortunately there were challenges on the basis that we don’t know how many learners are coming because we are implementing a court case that compels us to provide school nutrition even during school holidays but we are doing very well in terms of the numbers of those that have started to arrive to receive school nutrition”, he said.

Lesufi also said they were working with the department of transport to identify learners who need help getting to school. So far, the department is transporting 42 000 pupils

“We are working closely with the department of transport to ensure that all COVID-19-related matters are followed and adhered to

The MEC said there were still disruptions to schools, particularly in Pretoria and Johannesburg and that they have roped in the relevant law enforcement agencies.