Safety fears remain high as more pupils expected back

While many schools are geared up to welcome grades R, 6 and 11 back, at least 20 schools in Nelson Mandela Bay will be shut on Monday.

Many schools in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas have been closed by parents, concerned community members and members of school governing bodies over fears surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. 

They say children cannot return until their safety can be guaranteed.

Laurence Mostert, former governing body chair in the western areas of Uitenhage, said governing bodies in the town had also moved to close schools, demanding that the department ensured all personal protective equipment (PPE) was delivered.

“Beyond the fear parents have about their children returning to school, there are also schools that don’t have space to accommodate other grades according to the requirements of the department of education.

“Other schools do not have enough teachers to teach those kids, an issue that has been raised to the department on several occasions but has fallen on deaf ears,” Mostert said.

Victoria Park Grey Primary principal Herman Frösler said while the minister of education had been saying more than 90% of schools were ready, this could not be further from the truth.

“We are fortunate as a fee-paying school in that our class size is nothing compared with the majority of public schools and that is where most of the challenges come,” he said.

Frösler said they too needed substitute teachers and they had applied for two teachers before grade 7s returned. 

“Because the department has not made any arrangement for substitute teachers, the governing body  has decided to employ two teachers and pay their salaries,” he said.

Frösler said it would be challenging to allow grade R pupils back to school and they would be welcoming grade 3s instead.

“We had made an application before returning to school to implement our own back-to-school schedule, and on Monday grade 6s and 3s will come back to school and not grade R.

“Our schedule will also allow us to see if we are indeed ready to have all our pupils back,” Frösler said.

A teacher from Coselelani Senior Secondary School in Motherwell, who asked not to be named, said the school was not ready, but  grade 11s would be back on Monday.

“There are so many issues we face and one that is most pressing is the teacher shortage.

“Since the beginning of the year we have applied for at least six teachers, mainly for mathematics and languages, but there has been no communication about filling those posts, let alone supplying the school with substitute teachers,” he said.

The teacher said they expected 133 grade 11 pupils to return on Monday.

“Because it is such a large group, the school management decided to not allow the grade 12s to come to school on Monday,” he said.

Parsons Hill Primary principal Clinton Saddler said the school would be welcoming its final group on Monday, the grade Rs.

“The rest of the school has been back for the past two weeks. We are well equipped in terms of PPE and sanitisation.

“Of course some parents have indicated that they would like to keep their children at home and they have also completed the necessary forms required by the department,” he said.

Parent Dumisani Gqunta, 37, said his daughters’ excitement to go back to school worried him.

“It’s winter and the pandemic is spreading faster than a wildfire.

“We as adults have a temporary lapse in judgement when we see someone after a very long time and throw caution aside when it comes to social distancing.

“How much more the kids?” he said.

Grade 6 pupil Lisakhanya Gqunta said she was excited to be going back to school.

“It has been nice doing my schoolwork from home, but when you’re stuck with something there’s no-one to help explain the work, and that’s what I’m also looking forward to,” she said.

The department of education did not respond to questions surrounding claims that schools in the province were not ready for an influx of pupils.