Johannesburg - Teacher unions and governing body organisations have welcomed the national debate on reopening primary schools full-time, however, there is concern about under-resourced schools.
This comes as the Department of Basic Education (DBE) mulls over the decision to have all primary school pupils back to school full-time.
Primary school learners are less likely to be hospitalised and die from Covid-19 complications.
Most public schools are attending on a rotation schedule, the hybrid model. This means pupils are in school two days in one week and three days the following week – five days fortnightly. However, there have been concerns that the hybrid model was not working out.
The DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga told The Star on Wednesday that there were a lot of challenges the department was facing with the hybrid model.
“Learning is delayed and teachers are struggling to make progress due to the lack of consistency in contact time,” he said.
Mhlanga added that teachers are complaining that learners are not doing well and parents are not supporting learners on the day the children are not scheduled to be in school.
Mhlanga said that determining when the department made a final decision on the matter was tricky because Covid-19 is still around and the need to comply with safety procedures is still there.
“Best case scenario is having all learners back, but as I said, it's complicated because of the lack of space to accommodate all learners. Perhaps primary school learners could be an option as the impact of the Covid19 on the young children is not as severe,” he said.
The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation SA (Naptosa) executive director Basil Manuel said that the hybrid system created difficulties for schools with the loss of learning time and the loss of contact with learners.
“Teachers are covering about 50 60% of the syllabus, and on the other hand, if we have alternate days or weeks, you are not seeing the children all the time. That loss of contact is very difficult, particularly in certain grades,” he said.
Manuel added that the Grade 2s who entered schooling last year when the pandemic started were struggling to fill in the gaps that the loss of contact has created.
“A Grade 1 teacher is aligned to teach reading and a Grade 2 teacher is consolidating reading, but now, Grade 2 teachers are teaching reading again because they haven’t mastered reading, writing and then there is still the maths,” he said.
Manuel added that Naptosa welcomed the conversation on the fulltime return of primary school learners; however, caution was needed in the context of the conversation.
Anthea Cereseto, chief executive of the Governing Body Foundation (GBF) said that the organisation believed that it was very important that all children go back to school.
Cereseto said that GBF was, however, concerned about schools that do not have water or proper sanitation because they did not want to endanger teachers or learners.
“There are some schools where this may not be possible but in general it will be better for children to be back especially for younger children,” she said.
The chief executive added that having the hybrid model meant that younger children did not have consistency and routine in their lives.
“The younger the child the more important it is for them.
“Reading and mathematics required daily reinforcement and many children don’t have the support at home that’s necessary to do school work on the days when they are not in school,” she said.
The Star