Education
- (a) What impact will COVID-19 have on absenteeism from now on, especially with regard to teachers and learners with underlying health conditions, and (b) what are the plans to address it;
- what measures have been put in place to manage older and frail teachers, as well as those with underlying health conditions;
- whether her Department has received lists of teachers and learners with underlying health conditions from all schools; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
- (a) what is the number of teachers who have contracted the virus to date and (b) how many have passed away;
- whether her Department is aware of COVID-19 positive teachers who have reported for duty in the past few weeks and thereby exposed fellow educators to risk of infection; if so, what measures have been put in place to prevent this from reoccurring and to protect learners and teachers;
- whether her Department has resolved the challenge with regard to the sanitising and disinfection of learner transport; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
It is noted that each of these questions has been asked of the Department previously, and answers provided.
1. (3) According to the Collective Agreement 1 of 2020 from the Education Labour Relations Council, and WCED Circular 015/2020, staff members with a comorbidity that would place them at high risk should they contract Covid-19 are able to apply for a concession to work from home or for special workplace arrangements to be made during the state of National Disaster. All employees appointed in terms of the Employment of Educators’ Act, 1998 (as amended) with one or more comorbidity need to follow the process and complete the Individual Risk Assessment for Vulnerable Employees. Medical evidence must be in line with the indicated medical conditions and comorbidities as verified by the Department of Health, and as indicated in the ELRC collective agreement, and classified as High Risk for employees at a higher risk of complications if they are infected with COVID-19. Where the comorbidity is not listed, and a treating doctor verifies that the educator may be vulnerable to the infection, the Risk Assessment must also be completed and submitted to the WCED for a decision. The Department has received approximately 2 300 applications in this regard.
According to the directions gazetted by the Minister of Basic Education on 23 June 2020, learners can be exempted from compulsory attendance by the Head of Department (“HOD”) should it be in their best interests, on such conditions as the HOD may prescribe. The WCED previously provided Guideline I - Managing learners with comorbidities which allows parents to supervise the learning of their children with comorbidities at home, with the support of their school.
We reiterate that it is not older people OR people with comorbidities, but people over 60 AND with one or more comorbidities that are considered as higher risk candidates.
The effect on absenteeism will vary from school to school depending on the number of people affected.
- (a) The number of staff members at schools in the Western Cape (teaching and non-teaching staff) that have been confirmed as positive for Covid-19 is 557 as at 25 June 2020 (latest reporting date) – approximately 1.5% of staff at schools. This is a cumulative total since 22 May 2020, and many would by now have recovered.
(b) As at 25 June 2020, 11 deaths of school staff members have been reported to us by schools as allegedly being due to Covid-19. However, the WCED is in the process of collaborating with the department of health to obtain more accurate statistics.
- Whenever a confirmed case of Covid-19 is reported at a school, a detailed protocol must be followed: Guideline L – Managing Covid-19 cases in schools. The affected staff member or learner is required to self-isolate for up to 14 days, and any staff members or learners who have been in direct/close contact with the affected individual must also self-isolate for up to 14 days since the date of last contact.
If the member is aware of specific schools where this protocol has allegedly not been followed, he should alert the Department to the names of these schools and the details of the allegations so that we can investigate the application of the protocol in these instances.
The member is referred to the reply to his written question 5JUNESW9 which provides details of the Department’s engagements on this matter.
