The return of traditional daily attendance of pupils in all schools across the country from Monday has been widely hailed.
THE return of traditional daily attendance of pupils in all schools across the country from Monday has been widely hailed.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga met the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) on Tuesday and agreed that this will be the last week of rotational timetabling.
The meeting comes after Cabinet approved changes to Alert Level 1, including the scrapping of rotational learning and the social distancing of 1m for pupils in schools.
“A series of meetings have been scheduled with stakeholders to inform them of the decision. In the meantime the sector would prepare for the full return of learners. The minister will gazette new directions in the coming days to reflect the Cabinet decision and to also provide guidance ahead of the resumption of traditional time-tabling. The CEM will meet again on Friday,” said the DBE’s Elijah Mhlanga.
Education MEC Debbie Schäfer, who had previously called for full-time school attendance, said time lost in school had implications not only for academic progress, but also aggravated societal issues, including 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.”
Schäfer said she had asked that the issue of mask-wearing for children be reconsidered following a number of requests from parents.
“There is conflicting evidence on this issue, and it was agreed that the matter will be processed through the CEM for recommendations and consideration. As always, we will rely on expert evidence when making decisions in this regard,” she said.
The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa) executive director Basil Manuel cautioned the DBE to not rest in urgently addressing the issue of overcrowding in schools.
“The department has already missed an opportunity during the pandemic period to tackle this grave problem. If the department was able, in a short space of time at the start of the pandemic, to provide water infrastructure, albeit water tanks in many instances, to schools that did not have these facilities, they surely could have done something during the last two years to alleviate the overcrowding of schools,” he said.
Equal Education researcher Stacey Jacobs said pupils would now be able to access key support services provided at the school level, including the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) and professional psychosocial support or counselling.
“High school learner members of Equal Education relayed to us in a series of surveys how this affected their ability to concentrate and learn due to the physical, mental and emotional consequences of hunger,” said Jacobs.
Professor of economics at Stellenbosch University Servaas van der Berg said: “The past two years have been disastrous for children generally, but especially because of the substantial learning losses that they have experienced relative to previous cohorts.”
Cape Times
