School’s out for pupils who are ill

Parents whose children have comorbidities will be able to keep them home until lockdown ends

PARENTS whose children have comorbidities will be able to do home-schooling over the next few months, or until lockdown restrictions are lifted.

Staffers with one or more pre-existing conditions will also be allowed to stay home provided a medical report on the nature and duration of their illness is supplied.

These were among the plans the provincial Education Department announced yesterday following Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s announcement that pupils in grades 7 and 12 would be the first to return to school on June 1.

This has been met with mixed reaction from teacher unions and parents. An Ipsos online survey showed that only 6% of South Africans would be very comfortable allowing their children to return to school. Thirty-one percent said they were not comfortable at all.

However, Western Cape Education Department MEC Debbie Schäfer hailed Motshekga’s announcement, saying her department had placed orders for school safety and hygiene packs, which were expected to arrive at schools in the coming weeks.

This includes two masks for every pupil and staff member in all public schools, hand sanitiser and liquid soap, cleaning materials and non-contact digital thermometers.

Principals will also oversee the thorough cleaning of schools in preparation for school staff and pupils’ return.

“An interim list of conditions that present a risk for staff and learners as ‘comorbidities’, such as hypertension, diabetes and TB, has been sent to schools. This list specifies in detail which conditions are regarded by health experts as high risk, and how they are measured. Principals and SMTs will be compiling confidential lists of learners and staff with these conditions.

“Parents whose children have comorbidities will be offered the opportunity to oversee their children’s learning at home, with the support of the department over the next few months, or until restrictions are lifted. A letter will be sent to schools with a form for parents to sign indicating their intention to keep their child at home and to oversee their learning.

“Staff with these conditions will

need to provide a medical report on the nature and duration of the illness. Appropriate work arrangements and/or potential leave may then be considered,” Schäfer said.

Motshega said announcements on the opening up of other grades would still be made.

In a joint statement yesterday the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa, the National Teacher’s Union, the Professional Educators Union, and the SA Onderwysers Unie said sometimes information by officials to provincial departments, and from provincial departments to the minister, did not reflect the situation on the ground.

In anticipation of Motshekga’s address, the unions conducted a survey among their members.

“This survey was completed by principals who are on the ground, and are the very army the country depends on to manage schools in conditions of safety. When, for example, 79% of the respondents report that they have not received regulations on how to deal with health and safety issues, when 60% report that their circuit manager has not yet been in touch with them, and when 92% of respondents report that offices have not yet been cleaned and sanitised, you know there is a problem.

“But the minister cleverly deflected these real facts by stating that school readiness will progress as we count down to the reopening of schools,” the unions said.

Meanwhile, Parents Against the Opening of Schools, a group established following Motshekga’s announcement, is gearing up to interdict the national department from opening schools until after the Covid-19 pandemic has peaked.

Group co-ordinator Vanessa le Roux said lawyers were preparing papers. “There is a lot of fear among parents. They fear for their children’s safety. We aren’t saying that we’re not going to live with the virus, or that we want to wait for a vaccine. We’re saying we want to wait for the cases to peak,” Le Roux said.

“My child may be fit as a fiddle, but I’m a diabetic. What if he brings it home,” she asked.