EC preparing to re-open more schools as biggest Union wants all schools to close

The majority of Eastern Cape schools are ready to welcome back Grade R, 1 and 6 back to school.

That's according to Eastern Cape Premier, Lubabalo Mabuyane.

In a statement on Tuesday, he said the delivery of personal protective equipment to schools scheduled to reopen this month stood at 98% as of last Friday.

The three grades were supposed to return to school with their national counterparts on the 6th of July, however, their return saw a last-minute postponement to the 20th of July due to the rising number of covid-19 infections in the province.

Mabuyane said Grades 3, 6 and 11 would also return to school on the same day.

He said Bhisho had also delivered water tanks to 98% of the schools and all tanks had been filled with clean drinkable water.

The Premier said decent sanitation was provided to 488 schools and a top-up process was underway.

In addition, Mabuyane said schools which are not ready, will not open on the 20th July.

Meanwhile, the Premier revealed that the Maclear Methodist School in the Joe Gqabi District was the only school that didn’t open in Phase 1 when Grades 7 and 12 re-opened as planned.

He alluded this to the lack of infrastructure and the procurement of mobile classrooms which he said were currently underway.

 

SADTU

The South African Democratic Teachers' Union has called for schools to remain closed at least until after the peak of the coronavirus pandemic has passed.

This call followed a meeting of the union's national executive committee as the number of teachers and learners testing positive for Covid19 increases.

Sadtu says it can no longer be sending messages of condolences to families.

The union says it will be pushing for a meeting with other unions to support their proposal which will be presented to the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga.