Picture: Democratic Alliance flag
By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
The Democratic Alliance is outrageous over the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to close public schools. Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that schools will be closed from 24 July until 24 August 2020 as COVID-19 infections continue to swell across the country.
However, DA leader, John Steenhuisen said they do not support Ramaphosa’s decision. He said Ramaphosa has bent the knee to all-powerful teachers’ unions, in particular SADTU, who do not have the best interests of learners at heart.
“Ramaphosa is behaving like a “spectator President”, taking instructions from whichever powerful interest group threatens him more. This decision is not supported by the best available evidence, it is not supported by education experts, and it is not supported by the virus data. The scientific evidence is that schools do not expose learners and staff to higher levels of risk than any other place.
“Closing schools will have a devastating effect on children for years to come. It will make the inequality in our society worse. The school year will be further disrupted and may be compromised altogether. Many learners will drop out and never return or will fall behind to the point that they can never catch up,” Steenhuisen said.
He further said after four weeks of school closures, the virus will still be there. Steenhuisen added that the ANC government’s decision to close schools has nothing to do with ensuring the safety of South Africa’s children or teachers and everything to do with ensuring the survival of the ANC and its incapable state.
“This decision underscores the ANC’s indifference to the fate of South Africa’s children. It comes not even a week after the Pretoria High Court found that the basic education minister and the eight ANC provincial education heads had breached their constitutional duty by freezing the school feeding scheme,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa said: “South Africa now has the fifth-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world and accounts for half of all the cases in Africa. The coronavirus storm has indeed arrived, with the provinces of Gauteng, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal experiencing a rapid rise in infections.
“Even as the country braces for the difficult weeks ahead, it is significant that more than half of those people who we know to have been infected have now recovered. We have also seen a leveling-off of infections in the Western Cape since the third week of June.”
He said in approaching the opening of schools, they have always said that the health and well-being of learners and educators is critical. Ramaphosa said they will ensure that the development and progress of learners is not impeded.
“Schools will be closed from 27 July and will re-open on 24 August. There are, however, some exceptions. Grade 12 learners and teachers will only take a one-week break, returning to school on 3 August. Grade 7 learners will take a two-week break, returning to school on 10 August. Specific arrangements will be made for different categories of special schools.
“As a result of the disruptions caused by the pandemic, the current academic year will be extended beyond the end of 2020. The Minister of Basic Education will provide details on the management of the remainder of the school year,” he said.
The Guardian 