Primary schools are set to return to full capacity and on a full-time basis as of August 2. This has angered some parents, community members and the Congress of South African Students, who are now calling for all learners to be vaccinated before they are thrown into crowded classrooms.

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“We appreciate the fact that teachers have been vaccinated, but we are concerned about our children. We can only be free and happy once the children have been vaccinated. Taking them to school now on a full-time basis is risky, because they stand a chance of contracting the virus and bringing it back to their parents and grandparents,” said a concerned mother, Nozipho Ngobeni, as she dropped off her seven-year-old daughter at Lekazi Primary School on Monday.

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“We know that the virus is very active during this time of the season when it is cold, and we all know that our public schools do not even have proper ventilation systems in place. Some of the schools’ windows are broken and haven’t been fixed at all. So, you can imagine how cold those classrooms become,” she continued.

Some parents, however, believe the reopening of schools is a step in the right direction, since their children have missed so much schooling.