Educators are seeing the rise in infections across the country and believe something is not right.
South African teachers have asked the government to come to its senses, saying the announcement the reopen schools just goes to show nobody cares about anyone’s safety.
The teachers say minister Angie Motshekga knows very well that schools are not safe and their own investigations have proven that.
The teacher unions released a joint statement calling for “the non-negotiables to be met” before they report for duty.
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“This is what must be the preoccupation of the department rather than coercing the stakeholders to agree to unrealistic dates,” Sadtu, Naptosa, PEU, Natu and SAOU said in the statement released after Motshekga announced 25 May and 1 June 2020 as the dates for the reopening of schools.
The unions said a survey conducted by a group of school principals, National Baseline Survey of Principals on School Readiness, found the department had not introduced any safety measures.
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The survey of the principals dated 16 to 18 May found
– 44% of schools have no access to water
– 24% of schools that received JoJo tanks have no clue how they are going to be filled with water
– 79% of schools had not received any health and safety regulations
– 60% of principals are not seeing any visible preparations by circuit management
– Rural schools in KZN, Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo will suffer the most, because of water scarcity and other conditions that can lead to the transmission of the deadly virus.
“We wish to make it clear that if personal protective equipments (PPEs) have not arrived at schools and the required cleaning has not taken place when teachers return on Monday 25 May 2020 they are not going to endanger their lives by entering such schools,” the statement said.
(edited by MLM)
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