Basic Education ready to welcome learners back in schools

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A rather unusual circumstance the world has found itself in as many sectors more especially academia, is forced to move around to further protect themselves from Covid-19.

Schools were supposed to have been opened back in January in South Africa, but the Department of Basic Education was forced to postpone the reopening for safety reasons.

The Minister in the Department Mme Angie Motshekga said earlier today in a media briefing that her Department is now ready to reopen the schools and they have also published a newly gazetted calendar for the basic education this year.

The first term is set on Monday, February 15 and will end on April 23. The second term will commence on May 3 and end on July 9.

Minister also Motshekga emphasized that the health and safety of teachers and learners remains a top priority as they reopen.

“We’ve also amended our school calendar for 2021 as published by the department confirming that tomorrow the 15th of February will be the first day for public schooling in 2021 and from the outset we want to emphasise that the health and the safety of our teachers, of our learners and our staff remains our top priority,” she said.

The reopening is also met with many glitches the Department finds itself with over 16 000 learners who are yet to be placed in schools.

But this is a backlog which the Minister says it is still being addressed and she is overall impressed with the amount of work her Department and staff members in various schools have managed to cover up to so far.