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By BAKANG MOKOTO

North West MEC for Education, Wendy Matsemela visited various schools in rural areas in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District to monitor schools readiness ahead of reopening on the 15 February 2021.   

On Tuesday, Matsemela visited Phenyo Botlhe Secondary School near Groot Marico and a mega farm school, Nietverdiend Combined.

“The visit was to ensure that schools are compliant towards Covid-19 protocols. Today, I am doing unannounced visits to schools to monitor the conditions of our schools.

“Whenever I visit at any school, I want to make sure that the necessary health and safety protocols of COVID-19 are being followed. We have trained the Compliance Officers on COVID–19 protocols and I am monitoring them if they are aware of their responsibilities,” she said.

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Matsemela added that she does not want her department to be found unprepared when schools resume. She further said she has informed the district directors to ensure that learner admission is concluded when learners resume school too.

“I want teaching and learning to start immediately on the first day. I have concluded my monitoring of school readiness at Mathews Mangope Secondary School at Shupingstad village near the Gaborone Border.

“I have decided to visit this agricultural focused school and I am very happy that learners are given a chance to do the practical work at the garden. This is one of the schools which are able to give us 100% pass in the matric results even though they are in the rural area,” said Matsemela.

This year, I want the agricultural focused schools to emphasise on exposing learners to practical work, said Matsemela. She further said the country needs individuals who will be able to produce food for the millions of people.

“During my unannounced visits to schools, I emphasised that I am responsible for all schools in the province and I will not be selective to any area. So, I want to emphasise that I will visit any school in this province no matter whether the school is in a rural or urban area.

“Rustenburg in Bojanala district has many schools and the results of these schools are able to boost the results of the province. Therefore, I will continue to support all schools irrespective of their location in this province,” she said.

Matsemela encapsulated that her department has employed Education Assistants and General Assistants to support teaching and learning at school.

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By OBAKENG MAJE

Chaotic moments are expected at various schools in the North West amid the return of more learners. Those who are expected to return to class are learners in Grade R, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, and 11 as well as learners attending Schools of Skill in years 1, 2, and 3.

However, Grades 5 and 8, as well as learners with severe intellectual disabilities will return on 31 August. The North West MEC for Education, Wendy Matsemela said her department is ready to phase-in more grades on Monday following a four-week break for schools to avoid the surge of the Covid-19 virus.

“The province’s readiness approach includes provision for boarding school hostels with mobile hostels in order to comply with social distancing. On the other hand, the department sought to repair schools that were vandalised during the lockdown.

“About 129 schools in the province were vandalised. So far 112 of these schools are repaired while 17 schools still outstanding with contractors on-site in some. As the department, we carried plans that are both human and curriculum eccentric throughout the break,” she said.

Matsemela added that they are serious about the implementation of the COVID-19 non-negotiable at schools across the province. She said they have provided extra mobile hostels to Moedwil and Onkgopotse Tiro Combined schools in order to keep up to the social distancing requirement.

“Additional mattresses have also been supplied for the hostel at Boons Mega Farm School and dining rooms will be used on alternating times to allow social distancing. As the department, we have put measures in place to ensure that Grade 12 learners are supported to cover the curriculum.

“We have also shared the online platforms with schools, distributed printing material for the Business Studies, Accounting, and Economics Management, Physical Science, and Humanities. These tools were also distributed to FETs also arranged radio lessons and dial-a- tutor programmes were beneficial to learners including those who are homeschooling due to comorbidities”, said Matsemela.

She also sent her regards to all educators for their sacrifices during the difficult time of the pandemic, learners for their quest to acquire education and parents for their continuous support.

Meanwhile, the department’s Superintendent-General, Stephinah Semaswe is expected to monitor the return of learners at Reboneilwe Secondary in Coligny and Phatsima Primary school in Boikhutso near Lichtenburg on Monday, while Matsemela is expected to visit Motswedi Secondary and Borakallo Primary schools near Zeerust on Tuesday.

South African Teachers’ Union (SADTU) said all schools, colleges, and other centres of learning must fully comply and where there is no compliance, learners and education workers should not risk their lives.

SADTU deputy General-Secretary, Nkosana Dolopi: “The NEC noted that the opening of schools needed to be well managed to avoid straining the system. The 50% or fewer learners per day based on the different timetables adopted by schools influenced by their contextual factors must ensure that physical distancing is not compromised.

“The NEC, however, noted that according to a joint teacher union survey on school readiness for the reopening of schools on 24 of August, 11% of schools were struggling to construct a timetable because of constraints of space and teacher availability.”

Dolopi lambasted the Department of Basic Education (DBE) said it should have used the short break from the 27 July to fix all the problems to contribute to the suppression of the community transmissions. He said the NEC also criticised the announcement of the date for re-opening of schools for 2021 by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) without consultation, ignoring the realities on the ground and realities presented by COVID-19.

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