A whole new world for thousands of Boksburg learners returning to school

The majority of Boksburg schools have on June 8 reopened for learners in Grades Seven and 12 after two and a half months of staying at home to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Goede Hoop Primary School is among the dozens of schools that reopened amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and of the total of 242 Grade Seven learners, the school received 151 learners on its first day.

According to the school principal, José Grotewold, they had to split the five Grade Seven classes into 12 to have 20 learners per classroom. The first few days were used to orientate learners on safety and protection measures against Covid-19.

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“As you can see it yourself, health and safety measures are being followed in our school. We are following all the regulations designed to protect learners and staff. We are going to continue doing all we can to prevent the spread of the virus in our facilities.”

Grotewold added that before the start of every school day the school is sanitised, all staff members and learners undergo medical screening, have their hands sanitised and are issued with their protective equipment.

To ensure the safety of all, the school places limits on the movement of learners between classes and other facilities. Learners are allowed to go to the bathrooms and to receive food from the kitchen under strict control.

Apart from the long queues in the mornings when everyone is waiting to be screened and sanitised while maintaining physical distancing, the principal said there was no chaos or issues encountered so far.

A Grade Seven learner at the school, Rethabile Maile (12), said she was very excited to be given the opportunity to return to school.

“Although at home they were helping me to do my school work, I have been longing to come to school because I missed my teachers and the learning environment. At least here the teachers are helping us to keep safe and educate us about the disease. What they have taught us today helped me to change the way I behave, especially while in public, including when in my school transport. I always wear my mask and avoid unnecessary physical contact,” said Maile.

The education department last week postponed the reopening of schools, originally set for June 1, to June 8 to allow schools more time to better prepare facilities and train staff. Some Boksburg schools were, however, 100 per cent ready and welcomed learners back to classes on June 1.

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