EC education department MEC statement on the re-opening of schools

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STATEMENT BY EASTERN CAPE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION MEC FUNDILE GADE ON THE STATE OF READINESS FOR OPENING OF SCHOOLS ON 1 JUNE 2020

SG of the Department

Senior Members of the Management

The purpose of this briefing is to inform the Eastern Cape about all the things the Department of Education has done to prepare for the opening of schools on the 1st of June 2020 as pronounced by the Minister of Basic Education. But rather to show you quite honestly, all of the things that we have done as a department to mitigate infection, save the academic year and curb the spread of the disease in our schools. This is the truest definition of a social partnership – as our process of preparation involved you, the parent in society, trade unions, NGOs, teachers, learner organisations, communities and any other member of the sector. All these groups have over the past month of May been in thorough consultation with me on how best to avoid infection and death and maintain the performance of our province’s upward trajectory as an intellectual home of giants. We call on all in society to act as partners in this fight against COVID-19, as we do our best to make sure that learners are taught in classrooms that are cleaned and practise social distancing. Our schools were closed during lockdown therefore, the Department has offered an opportunity for unemployed youth from local communities as support teams to clean schools and screen learners receiving a stipend of R2100 per month for a period of 3 months. The Department is currently engaging on the possibilities of renewable contracts. A total of 20 000 people will have gainful employment during this period.

Screening

The question of safety of learners and teachers has been a serious concern for all in society. We will be partnering with the Health Department to link up our schools to the nearest health facilities. Learner temperatures will be taken daily as part of the screening measures. This is a novel disease and we are learning with everyone, the world over on how it behaves. Any learners that present with consistently high temperatures or even once off high temperatures will be placed in a holding room while awaiting collection for referral. The classrooms that the learner interacted with will be decontaminated and the learners and teachers who may have interacted with the person under investigation will be tested as well. After this, teaching and learning will resume and those with negative results will be allowed back into the school, while those who are positive will be in self-isolation at home with curriculum support, that we will provide remotely. To ensure that the above occurs we have also deployed a school support team of up to 20 000 young people and 900 interns for administrative, hygiene, screening and monitoring support.

Personal Protection Equipment

We have received responses from over more than 15 000 suppliers across the province. The first cohort of 36 suppliers was for the delivery of PPE to the SMT and teachers. We have more than 200 suppliers that have been given their appointment letters for the learner cohort of PPE delivery. PPE is being delivered to schools as I speak. Our package of PPE includes sanitisers, handwashing soaps, cloth masks, aprons, cleaning materials, among others.

Curriculum Delivery & Matric

I must pause to thank parents and guardians who have held the fort during the lockdown as they assisted children to utilise the radio slots, inserts and television lessons to help their children study. This was a momentous effort and we do not take their cooperation for granted. We still encourage parents of those learners in grades that are not coming to school, to continue holding the fort and we will support them.

To those parents who are uncomfortable about the safety of their children, parents may refer to the Instruction note 20 for further information.

In terms of matric, what we will do as the department is to extend contact time during the school day and follow the new academic year. We will have what was to be the June exams bound with memoranda and sent to schools for assessment purposes – this is so that our learners are not caught flatfooted come the November examinations. I will also be crisscrossing the province to check on schools over the coming weeks and to ensure that delivery of PPE that may lag behind is delivered, but more importantly to ensure that our learners perform at their optimum and we reach the targets we had set for ourselves this year.

Poverty Alleviation & School Nutrition

We are aware of the plight of our people in this province. We know the pains of making plans to survive and to have little to no food. All the learners that are in schools that have the nutrition program running will receive their meals. This will happen at the schools that are closest to the learners and plans are being made to that effect.

Infrastructure & Scholar Transport

We know that infrastructure remains a challenge but we have ensured that the 931 identified schools that have no water supply will be given at least one filled tank for use. 480 of these tanks are already on the move as we speak. Where there are schools that do not meet our standards for learners to return – these will be deemed level 5 schools and their children be taken to other neighbouring schools. Scholar transport will be provided for those children and routes are being provided for the Department of Transport.

With the COVID-19 focus on Grades 12 and 7, we will only need to take care of 13 000 learners. We implore parents to assist us in making sure that the scholar transport vehicles adhere to the rules in that they send their children with masks into the bus and that the vehicle only carries 70% of its occupancy.

Water and Sanitation

The Department in partnership with the Department of Water and sanitation, that has contracted Rand Water for procuring of water tanks and water tankers for school that need water. Schools that are a priority are those with Grade 12 and Grade 7 the opening grades on the 1st of June 2020 and those are 756 schools. The Department is committed to Local Economic Development hence a local supplier has been appointed to provide and deliver the water tanks to all schools. It is with great excitement that today 480 water tanks are being loaded to be delivered to various schools sourced from the Eastern Cape province. Further to this I gave an instruction that all deliveries will be done by local suppliers and installations of the tanks as well as at the schools. Xa sisithi we are serious about Local Economic Development we mean it. Abantu bakuthi abasekuhlaleni bazakuqeshwa zizikolo besakhela izitandi zamatanki. Maziqalise iinqununu zezikolo zifune abakhi abazakwakhela amatanki. Local Business people with tankers, will be appointed by the local supplier to fill the tanks on completion of installations. The rest should be delivered by Tuesday, 2nd June 2020. The delivery schedule will be advertised on the departmental website.

ICT in Education

Our partnership with Sizwe IT has led to huge impact on our learners and teachers. We were able to contact teachers, principals using the laptops and emails that we provided them which meant faster dissemination of information. In addition to this we are going to continue with the online classrooms as part of our anytime anywhere learning approach. The rollout of the tablets to Matrics at school will boost our academic offering as a province as these devices will also come preloaded with material that will assist learners in reaching their academic goals.

On Sunday, the 55 000 tablets will have arrived in the province; from the 1st June it will be configuration and set up of the devices. The actual distribution will start on Monday the 8th June to schools. 74 000 learners have been successfully verified and confirmed by school principals in the province. We are left with 30 schools to verify (about 3000 learners). 10 Local suppliers have been contracted with Sizwe IT to configure the devices and distribute across the province.

Educators

We want to make it very clear that teachers are indeed the frontline soldiers in the war against time – in the education system in this academic year. We are not going to fail you now. Every step that we take as a department will involve consultation with organised labour. We have sent forms to all of our vulnerable teachers (over 60, pregnant, those who have disclosed their underlying conditions) in order for them to take a decision on whether they return or continue working despite their vulnerability. We have over 6000 trained unemployed teachers that on stand by to fill in any gaps that we pick up along the way.

Learners with Special Educational Needs

Our Bonke Ngabethu program continues even during this lockdown. Some of the measures that we have undertaken to ensuring that no learner is left behind include:

  1. Making contact with and monitoring the 11 LSEN schools that offer Grade 12. These matriculants will also be part of those receiving devices from the MTN/Sizwe partnership. Special software has been procured to aid them in using these laptops where necessary. Only Special Schools offering CAPS Grade 12 and Grade 7 and Year 4 of the Technical Occupational curriculum will be re-opening on Monday the 1st of June. BIDVEST company has rolled out a free service of cleaning all Special Schools, Full-Service Schools in preparation for opening.

  1. We have identified teachers from the Sive, St Thomas, eFata and Reuben Birin schools to go and record of all the learning material that is available into South African Sign Language.

  2. We are building a learning program for those social development care centres that cater for learners with profound to severe intellectual disabilities, as well empowerment tools for their parents.

Our department’s psychosocial teams will also be on hand to assist learners, support staff and teachers should any of them experience any trauma and anxiety, after the lockdown period has ended. Mental health is as important as physical health here at the #ImfundoFamily

Regulation 33(1): A person may leave his or her place of residence to-

  1. perform any service, as permitted under Alert Level 3;

This includes all office based officials, school based officials, educators in public schools, educators in independent schools, and SGB employees.

  1. Travel to work and from work.

  2. Attend a school or learning institution, once these are opened.

Regulations 33(4)(a) Officials, SGB employees and staff members – must be issued with permits to allow them to move between provinces, metropolitan areas and districts. Permits must be issued by the employer and must correspond with Form 2 of Annexure A.

Regulations 33(4)(d) read with Reg 34(5) Learners who have to travel between provinces to attend school, must be issued with a permit that corresponds with Form 3A of Annexure A, by the principal or a person delegated to do so. Learners/Teachers/Support Staff may use the provincial number SIKUNCEDE NJANI 080 121 2570.

Regulations 34(7) Persons transporting learners between provinces must be issued with a permit which corresponds to Form 3B of Annexure A, which permit must be issued by principal or a person delegated to do so.

Stakeholder Consultation

As I have said before, we have had lengthy and meaningful consultation with all social partners in the sector from unions, SGBs, DEFs, advisory council, legislative bodies of government, academics, traditional leaders and other stakeholders. This consultation was meant to ensure that all stakeholders in the sector are part of the process apha ephondweni. All possible measures have been taken into consideration to safeguard and protect our learners against the COVID-19 virus. Additionally, all the tabled plans during the consultation will be subject to continuous evaluation for improvements.

Our message today is incredibly clear, schools in the Eastern Cape that are ready will open as stipulated in Instruction 18 directing to the amendment of Instruction 17 (Section 8. 1 and 8.2) provides a proviso where schools have not received their PPEs. Those schools that are not ready on Monday 01 June, as a result of the delay in delivery of PPEs and Water; will open on Wednesday/Thursday the 03 June 2020. The Eastern Cape Department province of legends – so that we can once again prove why we ought to occupy our rightful place as a hub of intellectualism and learning in this country. We view this lockdown as a temporary challenge and will not let our learners down in any way. Education remains a collaborative societal matter and every child is still a provincial asset.

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