South Africa is at the tail-end of a five-week lockdown to curb the coronavirus outbreak. SAOU says the recovery of lost school learning time over the past five weeks of the lockdown, will be easy. They argue, however, the implementation of measures to safeguard the health of learners and teachers will not be as easy. 

Based on an online poll taken by nearly 22 000 of the union’s members, Saou demands that all schools' buildings be sanitised before schools reopen. They further urge the government to provide materials for daily sanitisation of schools, as well as the provision of cloth masks, sanitisers, and thermal scanners, as has been done in the retail sector. “Until there is full compliance with the above, no school must reopen. The Standing Committee of the SAOU also resolved that if required, the court will be requested to issue an appropriate instruction to guarantee compliance with the above reasonable requirements and to ensure the lives and health of school staff and learners,” says SAOU. 

Education expert and former University of the Free State Vice-Chancellor, Jonathan Jansen, recently argued that the 2020 school year has been lost and suggested learners in grades 1-11 should just be progressed to the next grade. He suggested that matrics that want to go to university, should be accepted by tertiary institutions based on their preliminary acceptance results from Grade 11. He further said Universities and schools must sit together to plan a bridging curriculum for these progressed matrics. Jansen’s assertions have been criticised, with many arguing the 2020 academic year can be salvaged.

Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed the country’s R500 billion social and economic support package to help the country’s economy recover from the devastating coronavirus pandemic. R130 billion will be reprioritised within the country’s current budget, while the remaining R370 billion will come from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) as well as varied global partners and financial institutions, like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), the New Development Bank - formerly known as the Brics Bank - and the African Development Bank. Ramaphosa says these international financial institutions have made it known that they will be providing extra financial support for countries during the coronavirus outbreak. 

The number of confirmed cases in the country is now four shy of 5000, with more than 2073 recoveries and 93 deaths.

OFM News