Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced last week that schools were expected to return to full-time attendance starting from February 7.
Although many schools welcome pupils back on a full-time basis on Monday, the Advertiser, however, understands that some of the schools in Boksburg were not ready for the learners’ full-time return to classrooms on Monday.
The Advertiser approached a few schools after receiving a complaint from a parent who was annoyed to discover that despite the government’s repeated assurances, his grandchildren’s school (Laerskool Goudrand) was on Monday not ready to welcome all learners at once.
Among the reasons cited by the different schools for the failure to immediately scrap the rotational timetable and return to daily attendance were: lack of furniture to accommodate all learners at once, avoiding overcrowding and other logistical problems.
Other schools that were on Monday not ready for the resumption of full-time schooling included Oos-Rand Secondary and Reiger Park Secondary.
The schools management teams, however, told the Advertiser that they were in a race against time making preparations for the learners’ full-time return to classrooms. They assured parents that they were in discussions with the department to address the identified challenges impeding the full daily attendance.
“I went to drop my two grandchildren at Goudrand but was told that they could only accommodate the one child as they were still using the rotational timetable, and told me that they were not enough furniture. Now I don’t know where to take the other child to because I have not made any prior arrangement,” said the parent.
The return to normal school timetable came after a recent Cabinet decision to end rotational learning, which was implemented due to the Covid-19, with immediate effect and to remove the then stipulated social distancing measures.
During the announcement, Motshekga pointed out that learners will still be required to wear their masks and regular sanitising to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
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