Good news for Gauteng, nearly all of their schools are open. Due to a significant decrease in COVID-19 cases.
The Gauteng Provincial Command Council gave its latest update on the province’s Covid-19 response, on Friday 21st of August, as the country went into Level 2 lockdown.
Education head of department, Edward Mosuwe, announced that during Level 2, more learners were allowed to attend school.
These schools are encouraged to respect and follow the COVID-19 regulations to ensure the safety of their students and staff.
He also pointed out that the department was prioritising health and safety for over 1.5 million learners resuming classes.
It has been reported that 99% of regular schools and 78% of special needs schools were open. The reason for certain schools not reopening is as a result of reported COVID-19 cases.
It is best for those schools to remain close as Gauteng is doing its best to reduce the number of COVID-19 infections.
However hopefully all schools will be able to resume learning and ensure that all learners receive the education that they require.
While these schools are closed it is their responsibilty to provide their learners with adequate learning materials so that they do not fall behind while at home.
The matric class of 2020 are not to worry as their final exams are still on track and are set to be written on 5 November and end on 15 December. These results are expected to be released on 23 February 2021.
The Gauteng health department report stated that the daily COVID-19 infection rates had dropped from an average of 7,000 to just over 3,000. However this could be due to patients not presenting themselves for treatment as soon as they show symptoms or completely ignoring them.
Even though the number of infections are decreasing, testing still continues to take place.