Education
With regard to the second wave of COVID-19 infections:
(1) (a) What is the position of her Department regarding the reopening of schools before reaching the peak of infections and (b) what is the Province’s readiness and preparedness for the reopening of schools;
(2) whether her Department has plans to (a) provide all the schools with the necessary PPE and (b) deep clean and sanitise all the schools before they reopen; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
- (a)
We are not currently “before the peak of infections”. Data from the Western Cape Department of Health (DoH), as well as the national DoH, clearly indicates that we passed the peak some weeks ago. The number of active cases has declined significantly and continues to decline and will have dropped even further by the time learners return to school on 15 February.
(b)
The WCED is prepared to open schools. A survey is currently being conducted to determine whether there are areas that need to be addressed, so they can be resolved. All other readiness activities, such as the procurement of textbooks, equipment, and stationery, were completed last year.
- (a)
Last year, the WCED provided over R450 million worth of safety materials to schools, including masks, sanitiser and cleaning materials. Delivery was done in tranches – with the last deliveries happening in November last year. Some schools have reported that they have “too much” on hand and are unable to store them adequately in their schools, which is also a safety concern.
The WCED procured and delivered a year’s supply of material’s last year, and the daily learner attendance numbers at many schools were lower than normal due to rotating timetables (in many cases half the ordinary number of learners per day). This has resulted in large quantities of the materials remaining for use this year.
To ensure that all schools have sufficient supplies, an instruction was issued on 17 January 2021 to all district offices to survey the PPE situation at each school. We await these reports. SMTs only returned to schools on Monday 25 January 2021. Should a school indicate that there are large shortages, we will of course engage with the school.
The WCED also sent additional funding to primary schools at the end of 2020, to augment any PPE shortages, particularly with an emphasis on procuring masks that may be required for Grade 1 learners.
We are confident that schools are in a position to be ready to receive learners safely.
(b)
No, we will not “deep clean” schools. Medical advice has indicated that such “deep cleaning” is unnecessary given that schools have been closed. Unlike other provinces, we followed expert advice not to “deep clean” before schools opened in May/June last year, saving the Department millions of rands – we will not waste taxpayers’ money on unnecessary cleaning when medical advice is not to do so, and we did not see a spread of the virus in schools whilst following these guidelines.
Schools are required to thoroughly clean their schools according to the health and safety guidelines provided to schools. Schools have the necessary safety materials to do so. Schools are decontaminated by service providers when a learner or staff member confirmed to have Covid-19 has been present at the school within the past 72 hours.
