The country closed its schools in mid-March as part of measures to contain the coronavirus. 

Via a statement, the party said its public representatives had conducted oversight visits at schools throughout the country, and the overall consensus was that reopening would be "reckless" and risk the lives of teachers and learners. 

"All that we see is confusion by the Ministry of Education, which has offered no concrete solution or progress reports on school readiness," said the statement.  

Some schools still had no personal protective equipment (PPE), and those that did have, did not have enough, said the party. 

"A school with learner enrollment of more than 1,000 is given one thermometer to screen learners and teachers. The disposable masks provided are only to assist learners for one day, and not enough have been supplied for the whole month."

Rural schools were set to suffer the most, said the party. "Covid-19 continues to expose the inequalities in schools, with those in suburban areas enjoying access to resources and those on the periphery of our villages lacking resources". 

Some schools would not effectively be able to apply social distancing, said the party, as learner to teacher ratios remained high. 

There were also still a number of schools in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo that did not have adequate ablution facilities, and had not yet received chemical toilets. 

"The EFF maintains that all teachers, learners, parents, principals and communities must boycott the reopening of schools while there are no measures in place to protect the lives of children," said the party. 

African News Agency