Reopening schools ‘a gamble’ and ‘dangerous’ - Maimane
Former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane has described plans to reopen schools on June 1 as dangerous and a gamble with children’s lives.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced the resumption of the academic year on Tuesday.
Grade 7 and 12 pupils are expected to be the first to return to the classroom, followed by the other grades.
But Maimane, who recently launched the Movement for One South Africa (Mosa), believes the department has not put in place the necessary measures to ensure the safety of pupils at schools.
“Basic such as ensuring public transport and transport that take learners to school is workable, that the is adequate social distancing, that there is adequate testing in school, that there is proper response mechanism when schools come back are matters that are not thoroughly addressed,” he says.
“Many of our schools still do not have water and basic sanitation, if we irresponsibly let the schools open, we could creating schools to be places where it can have an easy spread of the Covid-19 virus.”
Maimane says there is a need for the reopening of schools to be guided by proper research.
The department has dismissed claimed that schools would serve as breeding grounds for the virus and vowed to conduct daily testing
Motshekga: 'Full steam ahead' for June 1 reopening
The department has come under mounting pressure to settle uncertainty around the reopening of schools and the measures to be taken to ensure the safety of pupils and teachers. In a media briefing on Tuesday, Motshekga said it's full steam ahead for the sector in the coming month, while admitting that a lot of hard work lies ahead.