The provincial department of education has made provision for the employment of people to be responsible to ensure adherence to the prescribed hygiene regulations, as a means to minimise the spread of Covid-19 as schools gear up to re-open on Monday.
The employed personnel will record people’s daily temperatures and fill in checklists of cleaned surfaces. The assistants will be employed for three months to generate local economic development and curb unemployment.
The department’s spokesperson, Loyiso Phulumani, indicated the provincial command council wanted to inform teachers and parents that it was pleased with its plans to ensure all school were thoroughly disinfected.
“The prescribed regulations require us to clean schools and ensure they are safe for pupils and teachers as we strive to save this academic year. We adopted a sound strategy to employ unemployed people in the proximity of the schools to assist with screening. The school’s governing bodies are responsible for the recruitment process which started on Monday and the personnel will be paid a stipend.”
Schools in the Chris Hani region began their preparations for the re-opening of schools by placing sanitisers in entrances, and putting up posters on walls with basic hygiene practices to help flatten the curve of the coronavirus.
Stepping Stone Junior School principal Ena Smuts said the school had built a special isolation room for pupils. “We made sure that we got everything we needed and because we are an independent school we had to provide our own materials. We bought sanitisers, fixed paper towel dispensers in the bathrooms and the school has been deep cleaned three times. We have set up the school hall for all the grade 7s and this week the staff have practised the process of receiving pupils at the school.”
Smuts said queue marshals and school transport operations would be closely monitored when pupils arrived in the morning, to ensure regulations were adhered to.
“Every staff member at the school will have a duty. Temperature screening personnel will be placed at the gate. We have informed parents to familiarise themselves with what is expected of them when schools re-open. We are also altering the wearing of school uniform so that scholars may wear tracksuits and full school uniform interchangeably, to allow more time to wash them at home. We have cut break times into segments to allow the monitoring of playground duty. We have also identified playground areas to enforce social distancing.”
Smuts requested parents not to send pupils to school if they were experiencing flu-like symptoms. “Pupils who are experiencing health issues will still receive school work via our WhatsApp groups,” she said.
Lukhanji Primary School principal Mzukisi Tshabe they had received masks, face shields and 20 litres of hand sanitiser for teachers, but that nothing for pupils had been provided by the education department yet.
“We do not know if there is anything coming for pupils, but in the meantime we have arranged classrooms for our 198 grade 7 pupils to be able to practise social distancing. We will accommodate 20 pupils per classroom, making 10 in total. We were advised by the department to allocate grades five and six teachers some classes to teach to mitigate the teacher shortage problem we have. The department will also allocate unemployed graduates to assist schools facing shortages. Today we employed four matriculants who will ensure the sanitising of hands, the observation of social distancing when pupils are having lunch and temperature checking.”
A statement issued by Queen’s Junior headmaster Lester Pike this week indicated that personal protective equipment which should have been supplied by the department before Monday had not arrived. Pike, however, reassured parents by detailing the measures taken by the school for the safety of pupils.
“Face shields for all staff members have been procured. People entering the school will be subject to a rigorous screening process. All pupils will be issued with a tag containing a QR code to present on entry. This QR code will contain background information of the pupils and will be transferred to a spreadsheet each day to register how they are. All classrooms, bathrooms and offices have been sanitised and all bathrooms and frequently used surfaces will receive regular de-sanitisation throughout the day.” Pike said the school’s Covid-19 committee had drawn up a set of rules and policies to cover risk areas.
While some schools are making progress in preparing for the reopening, principals at other local school also indicated that they were still waiting for essential equipment from the department of education.
Whittlesea-based Ekuphumleni High principal Lizwe Ngalo said they had received information that service providers appointed by the department would visit the institution. “Staff members arrived at the school on Monday and we are still waiting. There is no movement or direction on what is taking place. The teachers are ready to teach, but we cannot allow pupils to come on Monday. We cannot risk their lives. We have tried to keep the environment at the school clean with the help of our general workers,” he said.
Girls’ High School principal Theo Anaxagoras said 94 matric pupils were expected to come to school on Monday and that classrooms would accommodate less than 20 each to adhere to the prescribed 1,5m social distancing.
“All regulatory hygienic prescriptions are being adhered to, related to scanning and questioning of all entrants into the school premises, hand washing, sanitising of venues and ablution blocks. Foot-pedal dispensers for hand sanitising have been placed at all entrance ways in the building, and more hand-wash dispensers have been added to the regular ones already in use. Paper towels and bagged bins are on site to capture all waste. To ensure an understanding and compliance with our strict hygiene measures, orientation and information sessions are to be held with staff and pupils. Relevant signs and posters are also on display, reinforcing the health regulations.”
Kwa Komani Comprehensive School principal, Sizwe Mrubata said they had not received sanitisers, adding that teachers had to leave the school this week and return to their homes after assessing the matter. “We are rearranging classrooms as per regulations. We have bought sanitisers and we expect 20 pupils per classroom next week.”
