EFF STATEMENT ON MISLEADING ADDRESS BY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ON STATE OF READINESS OF SCHOOLS
Sunday, 7 June 2020
The EFF condemns the Department of Basic Education for its misleading statement on the state of readiness of schools to reopen on the 8th of June 2020. The Department and all MEC's for education have not illustrated substantial improvement in the conditions of schools and have rather used this week to establish a broader consensus on risking the lives of children and teachers.
The Department bases its assessment on readiness on what it defines as "variables" to determine readiness as schools according to them can never be 100% ready. Their claim that 97.6% of schools are ready to reopen is based on the existence of the facility and not the qualitative aspect of these facilities. Basically, for the Department readiness may refer to a building with broken windows, desks, dysfunctional toilets and small classrooms, so long as there is a building in which learning can take place.
Thousands of schools which have been vandalised will welcome students back, while schools in rural areas will have to contend with using pit toilets as the Department congratulates itself for providing water tankers. Furthermore, there is no coherent contingency plan provided for those who are in schools that are deemed not ready to open, which undoubtedly are constituted by black township and rural schools that had the decency to be upfront about the conditions they face and not risk the lives of children.
According to the Chief of Operations for the Provincial Health Department in the Western Cape more than 1 700 children under the age of 20 have been infected with COVID-19, which completely rubbishes the myth that young people are less susceptible to contracting the virus, a logic which has been at the centre of reopening of schools.
The EFF maintains that this experiment with young people, while Public Representatives hide and attempt to run the country in the safety of their homes, will end in tears. In the same way, the resumption of the sale of alcohol has seen a spike in crimes and admissions to trauma units, the premature reopening of schools will result in the rapid spread of the virus and an increase in the loss of life.
Furthermore, we call on all community activists and our own Public Representatives to ignore the corrupt request by Angie Motshekga to desist from visiting schools and conducting impromptu oversight. Motshekga asks members of the public not to inspect the state of readiness of schools not because she is concerned about the spread of the virus but because she wants to hide the reality that they have lied to the nation and are throwing children into the hands of a deadly virus in unprepared conditions.
We urge all parents, teachers and Principals not to be complicit in an immoral experiment with the future of the country and not reopen if they do not meet all COVID-19 health prevention standards at the level of PPE's, teacher orientation, sanitation and infrastructure.
The EFF will march for the removal of Cyril Ramaphosa as President of South Africa should children die because of his murderous and cowardly agenda. If public representatives are too scared to return to work and serve their country, they must not put the lives of innocent young children at risk.
Statement issued by the EFF, 8 June 2020
