MoBE Set To 'Quickly' Solve Long-Standing Problems
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday May 11, 2020 16:53
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Basic Education, Bridget John said at a press conference Sunday that they were working around the clock to ready schools for reopening.
Most of the work to be done in schools is what teacher unions and educationists have been preaching.
Just before closure of schools, The Monitor carried a special report on the dilapidated state of schools around the country. One of the articles reported of how some schools were faced with high risk as their ablution was in a dilapidated status and the lack of water.
Some schools even had their learners attending classes under trees. “Our schools will remain closed and students will continue staying home. We will only have teachers return to work tomorrow (Monday) as we prepare for the return of our students. We have around 600,000 learners and 27,000 teachers and with such a huge number we have to prioritise safety hence the preparations,” she said.
John said they were working to ensure that schools are compliant with the State of Emergency regulations amongst them ensuring that water is always flowing for constant hand washing, installation of sinks, installation of water tanks as well as provision of hand sanitisers and thermometres for temperature checking.
Even though classrooms have been crowded for ages now, the ministry has vowed to ensure they satisfy requirements by Health Services, which amongst them ensure that students stay one to two metres away from each other.
John said they would in the near future be releasing their regulations with input from other stakeholders including unions.
Botswana Sector of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU) has come up with conditions they would like to see met in order for their members to resume work.
Amongst other things, the union wants orientation of staff members and students on COVID–19 prevention and new arrangements in schools; acquiring Personal Protective Equipment for staff and students and other necessities, such as face masks, soaps, disinfectants, sanitisers, arm-length thermometres; strengthening of the Guidance and Counselling units to provide psycho-social support and assigning qualified guidance and counselling teachers to school counselling units.
BOSETU also wants procurement of porta cabins to create more teaching space for the purposes of compliance with the Social Distancing protocol of one metre distance apart in a class as well as other porta cabins to decongest hostels.
The teacher union also wants decongestion of staff houses; arguing that the sharing of staff houses would compromise social distancing and prove hazardous.
They also want the acquisition of more staff houses from Botswana Housing Corporation and subsidising private accommodation.
BOSETU recommended that schools be opened in phases with the first one being the completing classes; Standard 7s, Form 3s and Form 5s, and that they should open on June 2, 2020.