The Khayelitsha Education Forum (KEF) has called for teachers to be vigilant while it also welcomed the announcement of schools returning full-time.
This comes after the National Cabinet met on Monday 31 January and approved the adjusted alert level one Covid-19 regulations.
Provincial Minister of Education Debbie Schäfer said she was “extremely pleased” with the announcement as they have been calling for this development.
She believes the time lost in school has implications not only for academic progress, but also aggravates societal issues such as learner pregnancies and the risk of dropping out of school.
“Parents have had to make alternative arrangements whilst trying to work, or if they cannot, their children are left unattended, adding to safety risks.
“We met this morning with Minister Motshekga, and the plan is that schools should be ready to receive all learners from Monday next week.
“This will give them time to make all the necessary arrangements.”
KEF secretary Mthetho Haido said the rotational period has had many interruptions and impacted on academic delivery.
“This rotational period made it difficult for learners to finish their syllabus,” he said. “It was also a challenge to monitor children while they are at home on their own because they are just children at the end of the day.”
Haido said they welcomed the adjusted regulations as Covid-19 were also going down.
“With all this said, schools still need to be vigilant and ensure all the protocols of sanitising, wearing of mask are adhered to. They should not take things for granted as Covid is still around.”
Schäfer said she has also asked that the issue of mask wearing for children be reconsidered.
“I have received a number of requests from parents in that regard. There is conflicting evidence on this issue, and it was agreed that the matter will be processed through the Council of Education Ministers for recommendations and consideration.
“As always, we will rely on expert evidence when making decisions in this regard. I really hope that the State of Disaster will also soon be a thing of the past.”
She believes it is time that “we learn to live with the coronavirus and manage it responsibly” as a sector and as provinces, so that “we can return to a state of normality as far as possible”.
