30 April 2020
The Office of the Chief Whip in the ANC Parliamentary Caucus, welcomes the announcement of measures to be taken by both the Minister of Basic Education and the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, guided by the work and decisions of the National Command Council Covid-19 strategy, informed by ensuring that we save the academic year and save lives of all our learners.
Understandably, the concerns of parents, learners and academic staff remain paramount as we seek to forge ahead in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the ANC, we fully support the decision that there will be no campus-based academic activity throughout the Post-School Educational Institutions (PSET) sector, including all Universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges during the Level Four (4) lockdown period.
We further welcome the exception made for the controlled return of final year Clinical Training (medical) students who also assist with the health management campaign of the Department of Health.
With all risks considered, the ANC is pleased that from 1 May 2020, until South Africa transitions into a lower Covid-19 risk phase, a number of critical interventions will need to be put in place across the PSET system. Every effort is now being made to put in place multiple and flexible methods of teaching and learning to support all our institutions and all our students.
We note that the impact of COVID-19 on Basic Education has had a critical knock-on effect on the school calendar. Furthermore, the financial stress of the payment of fees of learners and the health and safety concerns is noted.
The ANC is encouraged by the interventions announced by the Minister to assist in the phased reopening of schools, which include Learner support, user-friendly Level 4 transport and the provision of Screening, Testing and PPEs. We fully support the decision taken for provinces to look into these matters to speedily find amicable but implementable solutions.
As the ANC, we support the Reopening of Schools Roadmap and the Covid-19 Education Teams at all levels, and call upon all stakeholders and communities to work together in safeguarding our future. It is critical that as we deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, we intensify our communication efforts to ensure that South Africans receive and share factual information.
We further call on our communities to work with our law enforcement agencies to report the barbaric acts of vandalism at our schools.
The ANC calls on all parents, teachers, school governing bodies, non-governmental organisations, community- based organisations, religious formations, business (private and public) and most importantly, our public representatives, to join forces to prioritize our children, our future generation.
Issued by the Office of the Chief Whip, Hon. Pemmy Majodina
Enquiries:
Nomfanelo Kota
Acting Caucus Spokesperson