Ironically, the DA held their virtual press conference on the same day as COSAS’s closure of nine schools in Vryburg. The Vryburg Independent Post (The VIP) Team asked the DA’s Member of Parliament, Nomsa Marchesi what their take was at the light of closures of schools in Vryburg. “Given the extraordinary logistical effort that went into the re-opening of schools, to close them and have to start all over again makes no sense. The anxiety levels of teachers and learners will be heightened, as they will have to go through the whole process again, while the children are now settling in again.” Marchesi said.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has also contributed to the ongoing dialogue regarding the push by Teachers Unions and Congress of South African Students (COSAS) for the closure of schools in South Africa because of fear of the novel coronavirus infecting the schooling population. According to the DA, It would be wholly irrational for a government that has just permitted taxis to operate at 100% capacity, allowing people to sit right next to each other for up to 200 kilometres at a time, to close schools, where teachers stand in front of a class, with the learners a metre and a half away from each other.

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The opposition party on Friday, 17 July 2020, submitted their position on the matter to the South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa. This submission by the DA has two main arguments. The first being that schools should remain open in the majority of cases, and the other is that the risks of closing schools are considerable. The DA urges that schools are not “ready to close” and are not ready to provide education if they are to be closed.

A number of Scientific evidence is indicated by the DA in their submission to president. Notably, that of South Africa’s lead scientist Dr Abdool Karrim that demonstrates that children’s vulnerability to Covid is extremely low – lower than their vulnerability to influenza, while at the same time their need to attend school is of supreme importance, particularly in a middle-income country such as our own. Civil society organizations including South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and The South African Paediatric Association all share the same sentiments of schools remaining open during these COVID19 times. The VIP Team understands that The South African Paediatric Association went so far as to prepare a position paper advocating for schools to reopen earlier this year.

In a virtual press conference, called by the DA on Friday, that The VIP Team was a part of, the party drove home their point that schools are not ready to close. “We believe that this will be disastrous and possibly unconstitutional. It will mean that almost an entire year of potential learning will have been wasted as a result of Covid, and will have numerous knock-on effects on learners, on Universities and Colleges and on the economy in future.” Said the DA’s Prof. Belinda Bozzoli, a Member of Parliament. Bozzoli with the same breath strongly call for the non payment of teachers with taxpayers’ money, should schools close and no remote teaching is undertaken. “Millions of Rands of taxpayer money have already been spent on supporting civil servants during the lockdown. But now that the lockdown is partially lifted, those civil servants who can go back to work should indeed do so, whether remotely or in person.” Bozzoli elaborated.

On the DA’s second point, they indicated that they have earlier submitted a document to the Ministers of Basic and Higher Education, Angie Motshekga and Dr. Blade Nzimande, proposing ways in which teaching could continue in the complex and difficult environment in which we live. This we understand was in April and there has been very little done to prepare for situations in which schools are closed but teaching is to continue.

The following are practical suggestions that the opposition party have made at all levels of the educational system for enhancing access to online teaching.

• The use of libraries and community halls as points of access to IT facilities for the “electronically disadvantaged”

• The development and use of Provincial e-learning portals along the lines already developed in the Western Cape

• The establishment of “banks” of computers for loan to students, using their fee account as the surety

• The development of systematic partnerships with other Departments of Government to ensure a “whole of society” approach to online teaching

• Recommending to learners the use of phone sim-cards for access to the Vodacom e- school

• The possible use of ‘wi-fi trucks” to act as hotspots for particular areas

• Where online teaching cannot be organized, course content may need to be printed or put on data-sticks and delivered to learners – again here the Western Cape provides a model for other Provinces

• Teaching through radio and television are of course other options, which have barely been explored.

Ironically, the DA held their virtual press conference on the same day as COSAS’s closure of nine schools in Vryburg. The Vryburg Independent Post (The VIP) Team asked the DA’s Member of Parliament, Nomsa Marchesi what their take was at the light of closures of schools in Vryburg. “Given the extraordinary logistical effort that went into the re-opening of schools, to close them and have to start all over again makes no sense. The anxiety levels of teachers and learners will be heightened, as they will have to go through the whole process again, while the children are now settling in again.” Marchesi said.

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The party made four arguments to oppose the notion that waiting until after the peak makes sense. According to the DA;

• There is no clear indication when the peak will be,

• the peak may well be different in different provinces.

• It also appears that it may be longer than initially thought, which will then mean that schools will be closed even longer

• there may be more than one peak

“In addition, we must always keep in mind that the purpose of a lockdown is for the health system to prepare, and that the intention of any further restrictions is fundamentally to avoid the healthcare system being overwhelmed. In the event that the health system is so overwhelmed in some provinces, or parts of those provinces, we would advocate for them to be able to close schools as part of an area-specific restriction, but not across the whole country.” Said Marchesi.

Nomsa Marchesi (MP) is DA’s Shadow Minister of Basic Education, while Prof. Belinda Bozzoli (MP) is the party’s Shadow Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

-The VIP Team

-DA Media

-Jus4tos Photography