The parents claim that the school was never sanitised after a positive Covid-19 case was reported and that further infections were later reported but the school was not closed.
PARENTS of matric pupils at Valspan High school in Jan Kempdorp have accused the Northern Cape Department of Education of exposing their children to the coronavirus.
The parents claim that the school was never sanitised after a positive Covid-19 case was reported and that further infections were later reported but the school was not closed.
Valspan High was on the long list of Northern Cape schools that were reportedly closed by the department following cases of Covid-19.
“This school was reported to have a Covid-19 case. The department sent out a notification and we saw that the school was (listed as) one of the schools in the Province affected. There is currently another case but the school was never closed. The school is carrying on as normal and our children are expected to be at school,” said the parents on Tuesday.
“We have raised the matter with the principal but he does not pay any attention to our concerns. Our children are at risk of also being infected but nobody cares about that. What use is an education when our children are sick? The department needs a better way of dealing with infections of pupils and educators.”
Northern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Lehuma Ntuane confirmed that there was a positive case at Valspan High and on Tuesday urged community members, parents and pupils not to use the pandemic as an excuse to stall the academic year.
“We have only received a report of one Covid-19 positive case of an educator at Valspan High School,” said Ntuane. “We have since received a report from the school that the school had been disinfected and all is well currently.
“All Grade 12 pupils are expected to be at school and teaching should continue.
“It is unfortunate that there are pupils who want to use the (positive) case as an excuse to miss school. We want to appeal to pupils and parents not to lose sight of this precious time and the efforts the department makes to ensure that all pupils are receiving quality education within the remaining time left of this academic year,” Ntuane concluded.
Grade 12 pupils returned to school on Monday following a week-long recess.
