South African Students Congress (SASCO) joins South African Democratic Teachers’ Union [SADTU] and our reliable ally and sister organisation the Congress Of South Africans Students [COSAS] and other trade unions in rejecting the decision by Department of Basic Education [DBE] to reopen schools on the 1st of June 2020.
As an organisation, we are convinced that the department has not fully complied with the preconditions it had pronounced on the 19th May 2020. The department through its principal Minister Angie Motshekga had assured South Africans that the preconditions for the reopening of our schools will be met with an emphasis of a conducive environment for teaching and learning. As things stand we are not convinced with the state of readiness to resume normal teaching-learning in public schools without endangering the lives of support staff members, teachers and learners.
The two-tier system that our organisation together with other progressives in the schooling sector, in general, has proven to be problematic and privileged and private schools will be advantaged by the reopening of schools because the majority of them could easily adhere to the regulations and preconditions. The schools in working-class areas and villages who remain to this day without proper infrastructure, water and sanitation will be disadvantaged and the spread of COVID-19 amongst learners and teachers will be uncontrollable. We call on the department to assure the nation with utmost certainty that these schools have received PPE’s and have met all the preconditions for the return to a new normality.
As an organisation, we will always be found on the side of the poor and working-class citizens of our country, we shall never stand idle and watch our prospective members [learners] and former and current members and leaders [teachers] become a statistic of positive cases of COVID-19 pandemic. Our call to reconsider the reopening of schools on the 1st of June gives the department more time fully adhere to the regulations and preconditions before it can reopen schools on a different date to be agreed upon by all stakeholders in the pre-tertiary education sector.
We call on all current SASCO members who are currently employed as teachers and support staff members to heed to the call by all progressives to stay at their respective homes and not report to work tomorrow. Workers and learners must only after all the requirements have been met and their safety is guaranteed by the department.
Issued by SASCO NEC
Bamanye Matiwane
President
Buthanani Ngwane
Secretary General
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Luvuyo Barnes
Media and Communication Liaison
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