Equal education
Equal Education calls for clear plan from Ramaphosa to support education sector
Equal Education said the future of South Africa remained bleak unless teaching and learning was restored.
The organisation said that if this did not happen, the country would be confronted with a lost generation of learners.
Equal Education added that while extra support was put in place to help matriculants prepare for the National Senior Certificate exams, they had additional challenges to contend with.
Equal Education approached the courts with an urgent application against the Department of Basic Education and eight provincial education MECs after it found the department was in breach of a previous court order granted a year ago.
This applies even when schools are closed due to COVID-19 or learners are at home because of rotating timetables.
The group said the department was in breach of a previous court order granted a year ago. That order directed them to ensure that pupils were given a daily meal in terms of the national school nutrition programme, whether they were attending school or not.
The Basic Education Department announced on Sunday that the programme would kick off on Wednesday and end on 8 July.
Grade 10 pupil Avethandwa Nokhangela was caught in a rip current while swimming at a beach near East London last month. Her body was discovered the following morning.
About two weeks ago, fifteen-year-old Avethandwa Nokhangela was caught in a rip current while swimming at a beach near East London and her body was discovered washed up the following morning.
Fifteen-year-old Avethandwa Nokhangela got caught in a rip current while swimming at a beach near East London last Thursday and her body was discovered on the beach the following morning.
Avethandwa Nokhangela (15) got swept out to sea while swimming at a beach near East London on Thursday and her body was discovered washed up the following morning.
Equal Education activists staged a picket outside the department’s offices in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday and called for the release of a finalised learner transport policy.
Earlier on Monday, Eyewitness News reported on how the school has been fighting for six years to get the provincial Department of Education to address the problem.
Infrastructure projects to ensure water supply and safe sanitation at schools had to be halted as government made tough decisions due to COVID-19.
According to the regulations, all schools should be provided with enough classrooms, electricity, water, and internet by Sunday.
Equal Education’s Noncedo Madubedube said they had received the plan and they were not impressed by it.
The High Court in Pretoria has ordered the department to resume the national schools’ nutrition programme to all eligible pupils with immediate effect, regardless of whether they are back in class.
The basic education department said it's consulting all role-players in the sector before meeting with cabinet over the weekend to make a final decision.
On Monday, grade R, 6 and 11 pupils across the country returned to school after spending months at home under lockdown.