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News24 Wire reports that Solidarity has sent a lawyer’s letter to the Department of Basic Education, questioning its directive on the delayed opening of private schools.
According to the trade union, the department has no say on when these schools may open or close. On Friday, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced that pupils at public schools would only be back in the classroom on 15 February, while private schools would be allowed to open two weeks earlier, namely from 1 February. Motshekga also said that while private schools must delay their reopening for two weeks, officials could access school premises during the period of closure if required. In a letter sent on Saturday, Solidarity CE Dirk Hermann informed Motshekga that she did not have the powers to compel independent schools to remain closed until 1 February. Solidarity asserted that such powers lay instead with Cooperative Governance Minsiter Nkosasana Dlamini-Zuma. The organisation argued that the issuing of such directives by the Department of Basic Education was invalid and insisted that the government should amend the directives and publish them in Government Gazette by no later than 16:00 on Monday, 25 January. Solidarity further argued that opening of schools would have little impact on the Covid-19 infection rate, based on research and recommendations from experts, including the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (Unicef).
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at The Citizen
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