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EDUCATION
Schools will remain open SAMANTHA LEE-JACOBS SAMANTHA.LEE@PEOPLESPOST.CO.ZA
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lose to 100 teachers and non-teaching staff and 1 500 learners have tested positive for Covid-19 at various schools across the province at the end of the first week. Recently, premier Alan Winde also announced that five children had died as a result of Covid-19. According to records provided by the provincial health department on Friday 12 June, there had been a total of 1 787 cases of Covid-19 in people under the age of 20. Devan Moonsamy, CEO of The ICHAF Training Institute, says as the number of positive Covid-19 cases rises, parents are expressing dissatisfaction with the decision by the government to reopen schools. “As we move into our flu season in South Africa, the concern is higher now more than ever that should students be allowed too soon into the classroom there might be a much larger spread of the virus,” he says. According to Moonsamy, experts have also predicted much more infections and deaths in the country by the end of November. “We do commend the government for how the lockdown has been implemented, but what is astonishing is that if all adults are not allowed to go back to their workplaces then how is it logical to allow our children to be out there? Schools have a larger make up of people than some offices. We have to understand the potential risk our children have of being at the forefront of a pandemic that is claiming lives,” he adds. Moonsamy says children are prone to borrowing stationary, sharing lunch and sitting close to each other. “As much as we can set rules, there isn’t constant observation to ensure these rules are not being broken. The
risk of the virus spreading is so much higher with children. We also can’t ignore that our teachers will be dealing with challenges that they are not used to. Kids are often seen hugging their teacher at the start or end of each day. And for many this is essential. This is the comfort they have that they are appreciated,” he says. Winde says: “I fully understand that parents are worried about the Covid-19 pandemic and how the re-opening of schools might impact their child’s well-being. As a parent myself, I know that our number one priority is always the safety of our children.” Chair of the South African Paediatric Association, Professor Mignon McCulloch, says the organisation supports the staggered re-opening of schools based on medical evidence. “Children biologically contain SarsCoV-2 better than adults, are less likely to get sick if infected, have milder disease, are unlikely to die from Covid-19, and are probably less infectious than adults.” He says, considering that children are at lower risk of acquiring and transmitting Sars-CoV-2, the association – as a group of paediatricians advocating on behalf of its patients – thinks that the benefits (educational, mental and psychological health, food security and safety) of getting most children back to school exceeds that of keeping them at home. “Provided the precautions of face masks, hand-sanitising, environmental cleaning and physical distancing are adhered to, we support the staggered approach of getting children back to school,” McCulloch adds. He says where cases of infection do arise, these should be managed on a case by case basis. “However, we respect the autonomy of well-informed parents and caregivers to decide what is in the best interests of their children.” V Continued on page 4
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People’s Post
Held at ‘gun’ point
A masked man holding a gun to your head has become a way of life amid the Covid-19 pandemic – a hand-held thermometer ‘gun’ that is. And this kind of stick-up has become a cause of concern and panic as shoppers wait anxiously for their temperature readings, dreading the thought that they may be ‘too hot to enter’. Its accuracy, however, has been brought into question. Read story on page 4. PHOTO: SAMANTHA LEE-JACOBS
2 Youth day 2020 is different
3 Take care on park trails
5 Helping homeless to stay dry