Schools should remain open - PTA
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Friday January 29, 2021 17:46
This comes after a press release from the Alliance for Progressives Youth League (APYL) president Gaone Majere calling for the immediate closure of schools.
According to Majere as noted in the press release the government ‘s decision to open schools was a bad idea as mounting evidence suggests that this would contribute to a second wave of infections and deaths from COVID-19
The statement further said the decision to keep the schools open could be extremely damaging to public health as well as to the health and safety of both the students and staffers in schools. In spite of the reasoning by APYLP,the national PTA chairperson told this publication that in actual fact , the schools should remain open and studies should proceed as planned.
He added that even though schools shall proceed as planned there was need for the Ministry of Basic Education(MOBE) to implement total compliance in schools as per the COVID-19 health protocols. He was concerned that even though they want the schools to remain open, there is a disturbing issue of non- compliance in schools. He proposed that MoBE should set aside budget specifically for regional education directors so that they can address COVID-19 health protocols according to needs of the schools.
He also said that the ministry should also introduce COVID-19 protocol committees in each and every school.
He added: “As the central region PTA chairperson, I can attest that there is shortage of personal protective clothing (PPE),cleaning equipment,soaps,thermometers, sanitisers in most of the schools due to budget constraints. Therefore, we need funding specificallyto address COVID-19 health protocols.” Moganana also revealed that schools in central region do not have COVID-19 protocol committees something which is very essential in fighting against the pandemic.
He further complained about lack of information dissemination on shortage of PPE and cleaning equipment together with thermometers and soap. He added that if they were given information on time they could have assisted the ministry by raising funds themselves or even gone to extent of searching for donors in order to contain the problem at hand.
Moganana also blasted MoBE for not consulting them when taking decisions in tackling COVID-19 in schools.
He gave example that they were never consulted on the introduction of double shift system but shocking only the unions were part of the consultations proceedings. He shared that if the above requirements are not met by the ministry they would have no choice but to advocate for the schools to be closed. On the other hand, they also wonder if MoBE was prepared to open schools because looking at the current conditions of both primary and secondary schools it is clear that they are not ready.
Moganana further said that they are more concerned about thesafety of the students, teaching and non- teaching staff.
He added: “When speaking about their safety, we still maintain that all the student , teaching and non-teaching staffers are not safe at all across the country. The schools holidays should have given the ministry ample time to prepare for the students and schools staffers before the schools were re-opened”.
Moganana was shocked that MoBE have started assessing the schools on compliance issues which is totally wrong as they could have done that over the school holidays.
North-East PTA chairperson, Moses Mphuchana shared the same sentiments with Moganana.
He said that schools should remain opened but the ministry should address the issue of shortage of PPEs in the schools.
He added that schools should remain opened and more emphasis should be on complying on the COVID-19 health protocols.
When giving an update of the compliance in their region, Mphuchana said that the compliance of schools in their regions is at 95% with other schools attaining 100% total compliance.
He said that since the schools were open they have experienced problems such as shortage of thermometers ,tables and chairs but were able to address the situation by buying the items.
He added: “In some schools we had to dig deep from the PTA pockets in order to buy new thermometers, chairs and tables for both teachers and students. The reason behind purchasing these items is to meet the government halfway so I encourage other PTAs which have cash power to follow suit.”
He also suggested that schools should be fumigated every Friday as a way of disinfecting the school environment’ and ensuring safe resumption of academic activities. Mphuchana said rather than the schools to be closed , teachers should be empowered in order to put more emphasis on the seriousness of the deadly disease. He also urged parents to play a role on educating to take a lead in educating their children about COVID-19.
He added that parents should also take good care of their children and know about their whereabouts at all the time.
Mphuchana also raised a concern about cross- border jumpers indicating that they are some Batswana who have a tendency of using ungazetted points of entry to visit their relatives in Zimbabwe.