Naptosa happy with discussions around Covid-19 matrics
The Department of Basic Education has tackled some issues Covid-positive matrics writing their final exams, says the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa).
Last week Monday, the department said that no matric pupils with temperatures over 38 degrees or with Covid-19 would be allowed to write their final exams at school.
However, hours before the first matric exam was set to begin – the department changed its tune, announcing that pupils who had Covid-19 would also be allowed to write, but in different venues.
The Department of Basic Education and the Department of Health have just concluded an agreement this evening that will ensure that learners who test positive for COVID-19 are allowed to write the final matric examinations. pic.twitter.com/bcEkczJEWe
— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) November 4, 2020
Naptosa met with the department at the weekend to iron out some of their problems with the latest announcement.
Naptosa head Basil Manuel says the department cannot send mixed messages in the days before pupils are due to start writing exams.
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He says some of the issues the union had included the safety of teachers, who he says are not trained to deal with the illness.
"And of course that will expose them to the sickness.
"What we need to do is look at things differently, acknowledge that there is a desire for people to write the exams, however, not at the expense of everybody else," Manuel says.
He says some of the suggestions included that Health Department officials invigilate the sickly pupils and that teachers could volunteer, provided they wear PPEs.
"There are still gaps, but we think we are in a much better place than we were on Thursday.”
