South African teachers’ unions have slammed the proposed changes made by the Department of Basic Education, to consider the reduction of Covid-19 regulation social distancing, to allow more learners to return to school.
The government is aiming to catch up on teaching time lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, however, a number of schools have said that they cannot allow all learners back to class, as they cannot accommodate or meet the one-metre social distancing requirement. “How can classrooms stretch to the max with the one-metre social distancing if more children are to be allowed in a classroom? It will not work. We are full these days with up to 40 children per class,” said an educator, who asked to remain anonymous. Basic Education Minister, Angie Mothsekga, said that they are working with national health and safety protocols to see if they can reduce the requirement to 0.5 metres. “We can only return to full-time teaching if the national health and safety protocols a re met and approval of the national level from the National Coronavirus Command Council is received,” said Mothsekga.
She added that this matter must be the subject of genuine consultations with the organised teaching profession and that it must be supported by scientific evidence that the planned reduction will not lead to further infections among learners, educators and members of the broader community.
