DURBAN - WHILE teachers’ unions said they were happy that pupils returned to full-time attendance yesterday, they were concerned about overcrowding of classrooms and a shortage of furniture.
SA Democratic Teachers’ Union provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluza said the expectation from the union was that the department would attend to the problem of overcrowding in classrooms.
“There was a consultation meeting with unions last week where the department’s director-general presented their long- and short-term plans of attending to these issues,” she said.
Professional Educators’ Union general secretary Ben Machipi said they were fully behind the call for schools to return to normality after the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the union was aware of the outcry of many schools because they are facing overcrowding and a shortage of furniture.
“We strongly appealed to the Department of Basic Education to prioritise and urgently attend to the issue of infrastructure, more so as it predates the advent of Covid-19,” he said.
Executive director of National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA Basil Manuel said the union supported the return of all learners to school because the rotational learning had caused disengagement, which led to more drop-outs.
He said the overcrowding of classrooms was a problem in KwaZuluNatal and other provinces and there were also vacant educator posts that were yet to be filled.
Speaking to the media yesterday at the eThekwini Primary School, KZN Education head of department Barney Mthembu said the schools expected
2.8 million pupils to return to full-time attendance.
Mthembu said the department was pleased with the decision because children had been losing out on a lot of teaching time due to rotational learning.
On the issue of overcrowding, he said monitors would be deployed to schools to check on it.
Talking about the schools that were affected by storms and the July unrest, Mthembu said the schools had been provided with mobile classrooms.
“Mobile classrooms are not a permanent solution, however, we are
working on providing proper classrooms,” he said.
He said they had not received any requests from schools that wanted to continue with rotational learning because of issues of overcrowding and infrastructure challenges.
Should there be such requests, mobile classrooms will be provided, he said.
In a briefing on Sunday, Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga said schools were prepared to welcome their full complement of pupils.
She said the provinces had made preparations around important areas,
which include communicating with parents and other stakeholders about the new norm, adjustment of the school timetables and duty-loads and adjustment of the school assessment programmes.
“The normal timetable will assist the sector to intensify its implementation of the recovery plan,” Motshekga said.
At the Basic Education lekgotla last week, Motshekga said it was resolved that the sector needs to be rebooted, recalibrated and repositioned to withstand the debilitating impact of Covid-19.
THE MERCURY