Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga on Tuesday has said in an address to the nation on the state of readiness of the country's schools that they will reopen on 1 June with the return of grades 7 and 12 pupils, as well as all teachers from public schools.

The national professional teachers' organisation of South Africa (Naptosa), the professional educator's union (PEU), the national teachers union (Natu) and the South African democratic teachers union (Sadtu) say they will continue to engage with the minister, but have set out conditions for a return to schools. 

"The purpose of the survey is twofold, namely to strengthen the collaboration between the department and unions who share the goal of ensuring that schools are safe for teachers and learners to return, but also to verify the information conveyed by the minister," the unions said in a statement.

"As unions we have too often seen that information fed by officials to provincial departments and from provincial departments to the minister do not reflect the actual, ground level situation.

"Considering the information given by the minister and the results of the survey, it is clear that this might once again be one of those cases, because there are definite discrepancies between the two sets of information, hence the unions’ need to release the results of the survey," the statement said.

The unions said many statements from the minister sounded impressive but were vague and said "very litte". 

These included: “The first consignments have arrived in schools and more deliveries will be made as time progresses”, “The reports we got are showing that preparations have been taking place and good progress has been made”, and “All indications are the preconditions for the reopening of schools will be met”.

"The plan to assure the safety of the workers, learners and parents is shrouded by this vagueness. Evading the realities obtaining on the ground is a cause for concern," the unions said, adding that their survey of a sample of 9.365 schools across the country puts a damper on the minister's "optimism".

"This survey was completed by principals who are on the ground and are the very army the country depends on to manage schools in conditions of safety.

"When 79% of respondents report they have not received regulations on how to deal with health and safety issues, when 60% report their circuit manager has not yet been in touch with them and when 92% of respondents report offices have not yet been cleaned and sanitised, you know there is a problem."

The unions said the department displayed a "lack of human-centred leadership" in its preoccupation with "coercing the stakeholders to agree to unrealistic dates", as they called for "non-negotiables" to be met before workers report for duty. 

"We will continue to make a positive contribution to the discussion of the unions and the minister by conducting weekly surveys to assist informed decision making and sharing the results nationally and provincially.  

"We, however, wish to make it clear that if PPEs had not arrived at schools and the required cleaning had not taken place when teachers return on Monday, they are not to endanger their lives by entering such schools.

African News Agency