Uncertainty stills reigns as the country waits on President Cyril Ramaphosa and the National Department of Basic Education to announce when and if public schools will be allowed to open by the end of January.

On the other side of the coin, some private schools kicked off their school year in the second week of January with the same strict Covid-19 regulations they followed last year.

Curro Krugersdorp High School and Primary School opened their gates once more to welcome the Grade R, Grade 1, Grade 4 and Grade 8 groups on Tuesday, 12 January.

“The problem with schools is the space in the classes,” explained Elmar de Klerk, Curro High’s new principal.

“We generally have smaller classes with no more than about 22 per class.”

Watch as Grade 1s talk about their first day below:

Curro Krugersdorp generally start their school year earlier than other schools since adopting a new calendar layout. Curro Krugersdorp will not, like most other schools, use a cyclical roster where classes are divided into two and each student attends class every second day. With Curro class learner sizes being small enough, all learners can attend together.

Mr Elmar also said that, “It’s a big advantage that the kids can come to school and begin with the academic year. We have all of our ducks in a row and teachers can work from home. The difference is: People think that children work at home, but that’s not the case. Teachers can make sure that kids do their work in class, and there aren’t any distractions like there are at home”.