DURBAN - Some schools are confident about reopening on Monday, while most are not.
They claim they have not yet received the necessary products to ensure safety and hygiene.
Last Tuesday, Angie Motshekga, the Minister of Basic Education, said grade 7 and 12 pupils would return on June 1.
Niven Pillay, the school governing body (SGB) chairperson at Roseville Secondary School in Umzinto, said Covid-19 had exposed the cracks that existed in the school.
“By cracks, I mean the financial difficulties we are faced with,” said Pillay. “Our school has 1 100 pupils. Although we’re stationed in the middle of a business district, we are a Quintile 4 school. This means we’re a fee-paying school.
“Eighty percent of our pupils are from rural areas and we have just over R5 million debt due to outstanding school fees. We also have a minimal amount in the bank.”
He said that last week, Department of Education officials called the principal, him and others to an urgent meeting.
“We were asked to discuss the preparation for the opening of the school and to draw up a list of the basic needs we required. Although we submitted the list, we received just some sanitiser and the face shields were picked up last week. The masks have not yet arrived.”
Pillay said it was upsetting that the department made principals responsible for preparing schools for reopening.
“In the corporate world, the manager must ensure the workplace is safe. He brings in an independent contractor to de-sanitise the place. But here, the department selfishly made principals and school management teams do this. We had to come up with a strategy to deal with something we know nothing about.”
Pillay said the school received R300 a day from the department for the fight against Covid-19 and the money was used to hire staff to clean.
He said their concern was managing social distancing among pupils.
Pillay said they had 45 matric pupils and the class would be split.
“However, with 20 in a classroom and with the small rooms that we have, it’ll be difficult. During the lessons, these kids will have to move to other classrooms and there will be no time to do a proper wipe-down. Germs can be carried on bags and clothes. We don’t want to even imagine how difficult this will be once all the pupils return.”
He said another concern was how pupils travelled to school.
“They take buses, taxis and some arrived cramped in vans. There’s no social distancing being practised. Smoking is also a huge problem for us. These kids smoke and share the cigarettes. God forbid if something has to happen. We will be held to answer.”
The school’s pass rate last year was 66%.
* Victor Chetty, the SGB chairperson of Greenbury Secondary in Phoenix, said they received some hand sanitisers, disinfecting agents and PPE from the Department of Education last week.
At the weekend, they completed the necessary disinfection and cleaning of the school. They expect additional hygiene products to be delivered, including thermometers.
“At the weekend, we enlisted the services of a private cleaning company to deep clean the school, including each classroom, offices and toilets. All the desks and chairs were disinfected. We also placed signboards with the guidelines on practising proper hygiene and safety precautions, such as the washing of hands and social distancing,” said Chetty.
He said an isolation room was set up and extra cleaners would sanitise the premises twice a day.
The school has 250 matric pupils and had a 96.3% pass rate last year.
Chetty said they were waiting to see how many teachers would return to work on Thursday and would then determine the number of pupils allocated to a classroom.
“We’ll try to ensure there is social distancing at all times.”
He said some concerned parents said they would rather they missed out on a term than lose their child. “We will work with parents and keep them updated and address their concerns.”
* Mohamed Shah, the SGB chairperson of Swanvale Primary School in Phoenix, said they had disinfected and sanitised the premises as well as desks and chairs. The school has about 50 Grade 7 pupils.
“We disinfected at the weekend with the products we bought with our own funds. We even cleaned the pathways. On Monday, we received 12 five-litre bottles of disinfecting agent from the department, but not the necessary tools to dispense the product on surfaces such as chairs and desks.”
Shah said the school also received two five-litre hand sanitisers and a spray bottle. “But this isn’t enough. It won’t last more than a week. We’re still waiting for more items, including PPE and thermometers.”
He said they had applied to the department for two extra cleaning staff.
* Dino Reddy, the SGB chairperson at Summerfield Primary School in Chatsworth, said that by Tuesday they had not received sanitisers, PPE, or a professional cleaning service provider.
The school has about 80 Grade 7 pupils.
“We were informed by the Education Department that the responsibility for the cleaning of the school as well sanitising all facilities was the responsibility of the principal and the SGB, but this is unfair. We haven’t been trained to handle the deep cleaning of the entire school. We also can’t risk doing it alone and not meeting the standards required.”
He said a sponsor had donated hand sanitiser.
* Vee Gani, the chairperson of the KZN Parents' Association, said many parents feared for their children’s safety, which was understandable.
“Parents are instinctively overprotective. However, no one will force a parent to send their child to school. The president, in his address to the nation on Sunday, said if parents are not comfortable sending their kids, they don’t have to.
“But the reality is, the country is opening up the economy. As the economy opens, so do businesses and schools. The question of closing schools is not a question anymore. Now parents should focus on telling their kids to maintain social distance while at school.”
Gani said that while parents were uneasy about sending their children to school, he had spoken to pupils who wanted to return.
“Many matric pupils said it was difficult to work from home. They said data was expensive and that without libraries, they had no access to textbooks or other learning material. They are fed up and want to complete the year.”