Today Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga briefed the media on the sector's preparedness for the planned reopening of schools on Monday, 26 July 2021.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the sector is ready to open schools depending on what President Cyril Ramaphosa says during his address to the nation on the alert level 4 lockdown on Sunday.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motsekga will address the country on the sector's response to the impact that COVID -19 has had on teaching and learning.
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.
Last week, the Gauteng Education Department noted concerns that close to 10,000 education staff refused to be vaccinated. The Northern Cape and the Western Cape were also calling on teachers to come forward to get their jabs.
Motshekga has been giving an update today just hours after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced new restrictions as COVID infections rise across the country that's battered by the delta variant that is said to be more transmissible than previous variants.
The province launched its vaccination drive for teachers and school support staff on Friday, where over 38,000 employees are expected to receive the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson jab.
According to the department, more than 100,000 people in the department were inoculated in the country's seven provinces during the first two days.
It's hoped after months of disruptions, schooling will be able to return to some normalcy as employees in the sector across the country started receiving their jabs on Wednesday.
Teachers and staff will receive their COVID-19 shot in a two-week push to administer over half a million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the vulnerable schools' sector.
The sector is gearing up for its vaccination drive, which will start on Wednesday in most of the country's provinces, targeting 582,000 teachers and support staff in the next two weeks.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced that the vaccine rollout would start on Wednesday, 23 June, and last until 8 July.
On Saturday, Motshekga held a media briefing and provided an update on the basic education sector’s response to the impact of COVID-19 on schooling.
Motshekga held a media briefing on Saturday, 19 June where she gave an update on COVID-19 infections and the upcoming staff vaccination drive in the sector.
The official rollout for teachers will kick off on Wednesday, 23 June 2021, and will continue until 8 July – a day before schools close at the end of the second school term.
The Health Department said that Basic Education Department staff, who included teachers, administrative and support staff at all schools, irrespective of age, would be vaccinated next.
As the country edges closer to a COVID-19 third wave, there are growing calls for more stringent regulations to be imposed, among them, the closure of schools. But the department's Elijah Mhlanga said that this would be damaging to pupils who were already playing catch-up.
The Department of Basic Education's Elijah Mhlanga said that it was best for pupils to remain at school where safety measures were in place.
