Motshekga ‘sorry’ for 11th hour postponement
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has apologised for the unexpected U-turn made on Sunday, halting the return to schools across the country.
Grade 7 and 12 pupils were set to return to the classroom on June 1.
Motshekga says the priority for the department is the safety of pupils and without protective gear they cannot allow schools to reopen.
“I really want to apologise wholeheartedly for the inconvenience caused yesterday. It was out of my control as I had to ensure all key stakeholders were informed.
“We communicated, unfortunately, quite late that parents should not bring grade 7s and 12s to schools, but teachers who have received PPEs must return to work.”
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Grades 7 and 12s were supposed to return to class on Monday, but a last-minute decision by the Department of Basic Education saw the resumption of the academic year postponed by a week. This followed concerns from unions and governing bodies over schools' readiness to combat Covid-19.
Motshekga says schools that will reopen on Monday will focus on administrative issues and gradually start lessons.
She stressed that any further delay to the school year would pose a serious threat to the academic year.
“As a result of those reports, we took a decision to say let’s use this week to mop up.
“It’s a decision we took very late on Saturday when we had our final report and there were different views to say ‘why don’t we let the schools that hare ready to proceed because it will kill the momentum if we say they must not proceed?’”
Motshekga adds: “It would be risky to have a blanket approach opening of schools.”
Schools are now expected to resume on June 8.