The Department of Basic Education, this week, allowed for more grades to return back to school. On Monday, 24 August 2020, grades R,1,2,3,4,6,9,10, and 11 reported to schools around the country. According to the department, an approximate 10 million learners were expected to return, this amidst various challenges that the department is faced with during these COVID19 pandemic times.

According to the Department’s Parliamentary Committee’s Chairperson, Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, one of these challenges, she said, relates to fee-paying schools which need to take into consideration the financial positions of households where parents have lost their jobs during this time. StatsSA has recently attested to the this eventually, when they reported on the statistics of unemployed South Africans in the First Financial Quarter of 2020, which ended in March. Even thought the reality is that South Africa’s lockdown only started towards the end of March, if local and global trends are anything to go by, the unemployment rate is bound to go up from the recently announced 30.1%.

The committee questioned the department on the application process of home-schooling and cautioned the department against processes that will frustrate and force parents to send their children to school, amidst the Covid-19-related anxiety and fears. With a specific mention of learners with Disabilities and special educational needs, the committee told the department that it is its responsibility to ensure that learners who are unable to return to school are provided with the necessary support and material to continue learning from home.

According to the Department of Education in the North West Province’s MEC Wendy Matsemela, the four week break gave them an opportunity to carry out plans that are both human and curriculum eccentric. “We are serious about the implementation of the Covid -19 non-negotiables at our schools across the province.For example, at Moedwil and Onkgopotse Tiro Combined schools, we have provided them with extra mobile hostels in order to keep up to the social distancing requirement. Additional mattresses have been supplied for hostel at Boons Mega Farm school and dining rooms will be used on alternating times to allow social distancing.” Said MEC Matsemela.

According to the MEC, “As a province we have put measures in place to ensure that grade 12 learners are supported to cover the curriculum. We have shared the online platforms with schools, distributed printing material for the Business studies, Accounting, and Economics Management, Physical Science and Humanities.

These tools were also distributed to FETs also arranged radio lessons and dial-a-tutor programmes were beneficial to learners including those who are home schooling due to comorbidities”.

-The VIP Team

-NW Education

-DBE National

-StatsSA