Besides 147 schools being broken into by criminals during the lockdown Mpumalanga MEC for education, Bonakele Majuba say the province is ready to receive learners in the extended school reopening on June 8.
Visiting primary and secondary schools in Bushbuckridge on Tuesday Majuba told school management teams and teachers that besides catching up on the lost time during the lockdown teachers needs to double their effort also minding the prevention of coronavirus.
“I’m impressed on the schools that I visited, teachers and the whole management is here to orientation and come June 8, our children will be ready to learn in a safe environment. One of the issues which made us not to open on Monday is issue of water, as promised by the minister Rand Water is already here in Mpumalanga. Where there’s no water we will have water tanks and we have also spoken to municipalities and the Department of Corporative governance and traditional affairs to make sure that we don’t run out of water,” said Majuba.
“We believe that working together and putting more effort we can defeat this pandemic, so since we have lost time. I expect all teachers to work harder and not forgetting that life is more important as our mission is also to save the lives of the children and the teachers. Adhere to the regulations and let complete this academic year and deliver good results,” said Majuba.
Majuba said schools that doesn’t prioritize Safety of the learners and teachers will be forced to close.
“We would expect all schools to be transparent when we dealing with this issue of life and death. We will be visiting even independent schools where parents need not to be anxious about t he safety of their children and as the department responsible for education in the province we will close schools that doesn’t adhere to the safety Standards during this pandemic,” said Majuba.
A total of 147 schools have been burglarized during the lock down in Mpumalanga and the department say the have repaired some of the schools.
“I total of 147 schools we broken into during the lockdown, some they stolen material including food, taps and broke windows. We have managed to repair most of the schools. You will understand that the department of public works is the implementing agent in that are as we speak repairs are taking place. We are also happy that in some incidents the police managed to arrest the suspects,” said spokesperson of the department of education in Mpumalanga Jasper Zwane.
Chairperson of the School governing body for Lekete high school, Veli Chiloane said he was also impressed with the work the department has done.
“As t he SGB we are happy with the school preparations. Since last week we have been cleaning and fumigating the school and all is in order now. Life comes first and we made sure that happens in this school, and yes if something wrong happens we are even ready to close the school and deal with cases. With us we have our own boreholes in the school and we don’t mind about that and now that PPEs are available we can start teaching and learning anytime.” said Chiloane.
