By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga,this morning provided clarity on the plans for schooling in South Africa after weeks of uncertainty during the ongoing lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Motshekga said her department is ready for schools to reopen, depending on a planned announcement from President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday evening.
“We hold this media briefing in times of trouble.It happens on the back of disturbing incidents of looting and burning down of buildings and vehicles,” she said.
“Our young democracy has been tested to the limit; but on the other hand, we have demonstrated what a great nation we are. South Africans from different walks of life, came forward to lend a hand towards healing, rebuilding and renewal. As a nation, we should continue to express appreciation and gratitude to all those South Africans who continue to work towards these noble goals, and reject violence with the contempt it deserves.
“We should refuse to be divided along racial and ethnic lines; and where wrong things happened, we should come together, and work for healing and nation-building in this, our beautiful country.
“The unrest happened in the month of July – the Mandela Month, and so close to Mandela Day. In the name of our first democratically elected president, let us ensure that we never again witness the barbaric events recently seen in our country, and rather in his name, work for peace, unity, our country’s wellbeing, and prosperity.”
She said that the department had agreement “across the board, that we are ready for the reopening of schools on Monday, 26 July 2021”.
School Management Teams and support staff have already gone back to work, as from Thursday, 22 July 2021, to prepare for the return of learners and teachers on Monday, 26 July 2021.”
“Based on the information obtained from provinces, schools were ready to continue to work within the established Covid-19 health protocols, and also to start resuming full school attendance in the primary schools from 2 August 2021. The sector continues to be committed, and at all times we are ready to maintain a balance between saving lives and livelihoods, while fighting the coronavirus pandemic.”
The minister said that the proposed school calendar for 2023 has been gazetted for public comment. It has been published on all the DBE platforms.
The proposed calendar has coastal schools reopening from 18 January until 31 March 2023, while the inland schools would reopen from 11 January to 24 March 2023.
Teachers from coastal schools would return on 16 January, while inland teachers would return on 9 January.
It also proposes that the fourth term run from 10 October to 13 December 2023, for both inland and coastal schools.
On the vandalism of schools
The minister expressed deep concern about the vandalism of schools in recent weeks. During the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, schools and education centres were damaged, vandalised and looted, Motshekga said.
The KZN Department of Education has submitted a list of 137 schools that were vandalised, three education centres, and eight circuit offices that were affected.
In Gauteng, more than 43 schools have been vandalised since the year began. Eleven of the cases were reported after schools went on a recess on 2 July 2021.
On May/June matric examinations
The 2021 May/June examination is the second examination opportunity that is offered to candidates who wrote the November 2020 examinations; and is also an examination for adult candidates sitting for matric examinations, the minister said.
The writing of this examination commenced on Wednesday, 26 May 2021, and concluded on Wednesday, 7 July 2021.
A total of 249,851 candidates enrolled to write this examination. This included both the National Senior Certificate and Senior Certificate candidates. 106,711 of these candidates were National Senior Certificate candidates, and 143,140 of these candidates were Senior Certificate candidates.
This examination was conducted under strict Covid-19 protocols and they were followed to the latter, the minister said.
The DBE and the Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) monitored the writing of the May/June 2021 Grade 12 examination.
“The writing of the examination was successfully concluded without any major disruptions. With the early closure of schools on 30 June 2021, due to the move to adjusted Alert Level 4, school principals were requested to administer the examination until its conclusion,” Motshekga said.
The marking of the May / June 2021 Grade 12 examination, commenced on 8 July 2021, and concluded on Monday, 19 July 2021. A total of 772,404 scripts had to be marked, and a total of 9,323 markers were utilised for the marking across the 54 marking centres.
Even in this instance, Covid-19 health protocols were strictly adhered to. Despite the protest actions and the looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, the marking was successfully completed; and the capturing of marks is currently in progress.
“The DBE will complete the processing of all candidate data for the Umalusi standardisation meeting of 06 August 2021, and the results will be released to candidates on 24 August 2021. The NSC candidates, who were not successful in this May/June examination, can register to write the November 2021 NSC examination,” Motshekga said.
Meanwhile the Department of Basic Education, lobby group Equal Education (EE) and two Limpopo schools have reached a settlement agreement compelling the department to revise its plans and implement the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP).
Earlier in July, EE and the schools filed an urgent application in the Gauteng High Court against Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and provincial education MECs, stating they had not fully implemented the nutrition programme as ordered by the court in July 2020.
The nutrition programme was suspended when schools closed during the lockdown. Once schools reopened for certain grades in June, only some pupils benefitted from it.
In the new court bid, Section27 and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) argued for the applicants that the national and provincial education departments failed to roll the programme out to all eligible pupils across the country.
The organisations said they were asking the court to grant a new order declaring that education officials had not met their constitutional obligations to provide daily meals to all qualifying pupils.
The two parties, however, reached an agreement in which the court ordered Motshekga to formulate and implement a revised plan within one month of signing the agreement to ensure all qualifying pupils received their meals.
The agreement stated that Motshekga’s revised plan would have to take into account, among other things, challenges that have halted the programme’s implementation.
It also has to consider the need for realistic and responsive plans and the need to feed pupils during the school calendar year, regardless of whether schools were closed due to Covid-19 or pupils were at home due to rotational timetables.
According to the agreement, the department would also need to consider a communication plan to ensure that all pupils and stakeholders were aware of the provision of the meals, how the meals will be provided and the availability of scholar transport where applicable.