The South African government has decided to delay the re-opening of schools by two weeks as the coronavirus situation worsens in the country, reported News 24. The schools were previously set to re-open at the end of this month.
“Given the pressure experienced by the health system in the past few weeks, occasioned by increased COVID-19 infections which have led to the second wave, the council of education ministers in conjunction with the national coronavirus command council and Cabinet has taken the decision to delay the reopening of both public and private schools,” said basic education deputy minister Reginah Mhaule.
The minister said school management teams would report on duty on January 25, while all schools will only be re-opened for teachers on February 1 and students on February 15. She added that the schools’ management teams would prepare for teachers’ return and teachers would prepare for the return of the students.
It currently remains unknown how many teachers or students have died due to COVID-19. Two teachers reportedly died during the marking of last year’s examination.
“Some of our markers have passed away, while others withdrew from marking due to fear and anxiety, but also because some of their own family members have tested positive,” said Mhauli.
The South African education minister said that the decision to delay the re-opening of schools had been taken after considering all factors.
“The priority remains saving lives,” she said.
Mhauli said that all stakeholders including the South African education ministry, schools’ associations, and teachers’ unions, are in support of a delay in the re-opening of schools.
The number of coronavirus cases has increased rapidly after the health experts detected a more infectious variant of the coronavirus last month. The country has recorded 13,973 new infections and 348 deaths over the past 24 hours.
South Africa has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Africa with more than 1.3 million confirmed cases, including 36,851 deaths.
