South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) members will not return to work on Monday, 11 May 2020, because Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has not fulfilled her promise to make schools safe against the coronavirus.
The union asked its members to remain at home until the department had fulfilled its obligations and promises.
Sadtu general secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, said the minister committed to ensure that the non-negotiable items to ensure protection against infection by Covid-19 would be delivered to schools before they opened.
The minister promised that schools would be disinfected. Government? Staff? would ensure that social distancing inside classrooms and courtyards was observed and that class sizes would be reduced.
Schools would be provided with soaps, sanitisers and masks and there would be screening of learners, teachers and support personnel.
Motshekga said there would be provision of psychosocial services to assist learners as well as teachers to “build resilience and calm fears among them”.
Maluleke said personal protective equipment hadn’t been procured for staff, educators or administrators. The disinfecting of schools and offices hadn’t even reached 25%. “It is unlawful to expect workers to report for duty when their safety is not guaranteed.”
The following should be considered:
- Teachers can afford to stay away because the public sector receives salaries irrespective of whether members work or not;
- Fumigation and disinfecting only last a few days and are not likely to be repeated.
- Social distancing needs to be managed by the teachers in situ;
- How is the education department going to be able to provide psychosocial services?;
- It is unlikely that the education sector can screen adequately if the health department can’t;
- Children are not vulnerable to the illness nor good vectors of it.
The public teaching fraternity doesn’t seem to be trying very hard to guarantee its own safety.
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