Parents anger over fees as school delayed for two weeks
By Tanya Waterworth, Duncan Guy
Jan 16, 2021
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Durban - Parents have questioned the need to pay school fees for January, while teachers questioned the need to be at school before their learners.
This followed yesterday s announcement on the delay of schools opening by two weeks to February 15, by the Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Reginah Mhaule.
Mhaule said that the calendar for the school year had been revised to schools no longer opening on January 27 to February 15, due to the current wave of Covid-19 sweeping the country.
The fortnight delay was decided after consultation this week with the Council of Education Ministers, the Heads of Education Departments Committee, the national School Governing Body associations, teacher unions, learner formations and principals’ associations, as well as national associations representing independent schools.
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South Africa saw more Covid-19 infections and deaths in one day than ever before
On Wednesday, 6 January, South Africa confirmed its worst Covid-19 24-hour toll yet, with more than 840 deaths in a single day, and about 21,800 people confirmed infections. This follows from the country’s highest number of excess deaths in a week – 6,840 – and most are thought to be due to Covid-19. As GroundUp reports: “It is highly likely that more than one in every 1,000 South Africans has already died of Covid-19.” On Tuesday, 5 January, more than a million people in South Africa had tested positive for Covid-19 in total.
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The Eastern Cape Department of Education does not have a budget to buy personal protective equipment for its 5 037 public schools in 2021.
With 26 days to go until schools reopen for the 2021 academic year, the department could not give a clear answer on how they would purchase PPE stock.
The DA in the Eastern Cape said the financial crisis was caused by the department by paying for overpriced PPE stock from handpicked suppliers.
The Eastern Cape Department of Education does not have a budget to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) for its 5 037 public schools in 2021, department superintendent-general Themba Kojana said.