According to reports, education MECs representing Gauteng and the Western Cape are the only ones who have indicated that they are ready to reopen schools.
The Eastern Cape reportedly indicated that it could not guarantee it would be able to reopen its schools by June. The remaining six provinces are all at different stages of readiness.
TimesLIVE reported that Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, met with the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) on Monday to discuss schools’ readiness to reopen their doors again under Level 4 of the lockdown. Motshekga also met with teacher unions and school governing body (SGB) associations to consider various reports on schools’ state of readiness.
Two officials who reportedly participated in the meetings told TimesLIVE that Gauteng and the Western Cape have acquired hand sanitisers and face masks as part of the non-negotiables required before pupils’ return.
Two weeks ago Minister Motshekga announced that school management teams (SMT) would return to schools on Monday 11 May to start with preparations for the phased-in return of learners. She also announced the proposed date of reopening for learners to be 1 June.
Following Motshekga’s meetings, the department announced that final dates and detailed plans would be announced on Thursday after a cabinet briefing on Wednesday regarding the education sector recovery plan.
