The country continues to seek clarity on when the academic year will resume and in what form.

Motshekga began by saying that her department had consulted broadly with as many stakeholders as possible before reaching its decisions, including a teleconference with more than 200 leaders in the education sector.

Motshekga said a school calendar was put forward proposing that the sector would reopen on 4 May to start preparing for the resumption of physical schooling, especially getting ready with face mask provisions and sanitation equipment, but that was only for consultation purposes. It would take two to three weeks to adequately prepare for schools to get back to some sort of capacity.

She said the aim was to reopen most schools by the start of June, but only for grades 7 and 12.

The breakdown of the return was given as follows:

(1) Office-based staff to return to work on 4 May 2020. This is in line with the directive from the Department of Public Service and Administration.
(2) School Management Teams should return to work on the 11th May 2020. "This, we have done to ensure that the School Management Teams prepare the schools prior to the return of learners."
(3) Teachers return to work on 18 May 2020 to prepare for the learners.
(4) Grade 12 and 7 learners go back to school on the 1st of June 2020.

“As I said earlier the plan is to have officials in the schools to receive the material that is required for the safety measures but also to prepare the school for learning and teaching under the new conditions.”

In the days ahead the department would ensure that communication would be clearer to avoid any further “misunderstanding” or being “misquoted”, but in the meantime a decision to approve the calendar would apparently still need to be approved by Cabinet.

Motshekga said they wanted to ensure they did not contribute “at all” to the spread of the virus, “but at the same time we have to continue with the academic year”.

She said the department would provide face masks to all learners, and parents would be helped with an awareness programme.

Higher education’s briefing

Earlier, Nzimande said government had decided not to resume with campus-based academic activity throughout the PSET sector, including all universities and TVET Colleges, both public and private, during the level four lockdown period.

“The only exception will be the controlled return of final year clinical training (medical) students, under strict conditions, to also directly assist with the health management campaign of the Department of Health.

“The risks of a return to normal campus-based activity for thousands of students and staff are simply too great and cannot function successfully outside of the national context of a general lockdown. Universities and TVET Colleges do not operate in a vacuum, but in a historically specific context.

“Against this background and with the endorsement by the Command Council, we have decided that the current period, from 1 May until South Africa transitions into a lower Covid-19 risk phase, must be used to put a number of critical interventions in place.”

Nzimande said that when students returned to campuses, protocols would be in place for the maintenance of physical distance, access to hand sanitisers and protective masks, and continual deep cleaning of facilities.

NSFAS funding for all students would continue while the academic year was under way.

“The likely extension of the academic year will require additional funding to maintain allowances for students while they complete the academic year. As a department, we are therefore working with NSFAS in modelling these costs.

The Citizen