MEC Debbie Schäfer on Khayelitsha schools opening amid Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Schools in Khayelitsha will be open tomorrow

This evening I attended a meeting of the Khayelitsha Covid-19 Response Team by invitation of the co-chairpersons. The Response Team has been established specifically to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic in the Khayelitsha. Both myself and Minister Angie Motshekga participated in the meeting.

The Response Team reported that they had held a meeting earlier in the day with School Governing Bodies and parent organisations in the area, during which the overwhelming feeling was that children should be in school at present.

They had a number of concerns which they raised with us, including communication challenges and safety protocols not being uniformly implemented at schools. I have undertaken to raise these with the Head of Department, and agreed that we would try to strengthen communication on various Covid-19 related matters.

The Response Team also noted that following the day’s discussions, they would not be disrupting any schools tomorrow, and would not be supporting SANCO’s call to close schools. The Khayelitsha Development Forum and Khayelitsha Education Forum specifically said that they were disassociating themselves from SANCO’s statement today.

This was a constructive and productive meeting, demonstrating a real commitment to working together as we face the challenge of educating children during this pandemic. I look forward to our continued engagement on how we can implement every possible measure to keep children and staff safe at schools.