21 May 2020

Preparations for reopening of North East District secondary schools are said to be at an advanced stage.

Speaking at the North East district head teachers’ meeting in Tshesebe recently, North East regional operations director at the Ministry of Basic Education, Mr Labane Mokgosi said of the 19 secondary schools only two being Matsiloje and Zwenshambe Junior secondary schools were lagging behind in preparations.

Mr Mokgosi said fumigation and upgrading of water basins had already been completed in all schools except for the two that had experienced a challenge.

He said when schools reopen, wash basins and installation of water system toilets would be fully functional.

Again, he said each school had received a thermometer and they were expecting more to arrive before schools open with the target being at least five thermometers per school.

He added that boarding schools would also be equipped with more looking at the number of learners.

He said masks should be procured by parents and that ideally they should match with school uniform, hence he implored head teachers to liaise with PTAs in their respective schools to meet such requirement.
Schools, he added should look into installing geysers for hot water during the winter season so that learners continued to wash their hands even in the cold weather.

Nevertheless, he said the ministry acknowledged the water crisis in the Eastern side of the district hence the need for schools to procure as many water tanks as possible to augment water shortage.

Further, Mr Mokgosi said the district was doing well in converting pit latrines to water system toilets with primary, junior and senior schools all above 85 per cent progress.

He indicated that the Ministry of Basic Education had consulted North East District Council to deploy Ipelegeng workers in schools to assist in maintenance of toilets and ablutions and any other work that would ensure compliance.

However, he warned that some learners might be returning to school with scars having been subjected to some abuse during lockdown, hence implored head teachers to be prepared for such cases.

He said counselling was imperative not just for learners but also teachers who may have gone through any kind of psychological challenges.

On the other hand, head teachers had requested that the Ministry of Basic Education to consider employing more personnel especially Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) experts to monitor compliance.

However, they appreciated the fact that government had advised that every school should deploy a SHE focal person from their staff even though that would leave a gap in the normal operations.

They further indicated in their preparations for schools reopening, water basins and water tanks had been placed at strategic points in their schools for washing hands. ENDS