{"id":495363,"date":"2021-06-02T14:38:27","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T12:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=495363"},"modified":"2021-06-02T14:38:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T12:38:27","slug":"governments-new-lockdown-plan-for-schools-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/495363\/governments-new-lockdown-plan-for-schools-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Government’s new lockdown plan for schools in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

The department of basic education has detailed its plans to have learners return to full-time teaching from the end of July 2021.<\/p>\n

Currently, most students in South Africa are learning in a ‘shift system’, with a large amount of learning and coursework still expected to be done at home in an effort to increase social distancing.<\/p>\n

In a gazette published this weekend, basic education minister Angie Motshekga said her department will now use a risk-adjusted differentiated strategy – where school attendance is determined by the direction the pandemic is taking in specific districts or the country as a whole.<\/p>\n

Under this system,\u00a0primary school learners (Grades R to 7) must return to the daily attendance and traditional timetabling model from 26 July 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The department said that, where practicable, teaching and learning may be conducted outside the confines of a classroom. Schools must also use all the available rooms or spaces to prevent overcrowding in a classroom.<\/p>\n

The movement of learners must be minimised during teaching time with teachers rotating between lessons. Schools that cannot return to the traditional timetabling model are expected to provide official reasons to the government.<\/p>\n

Alert levels<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a presentation given to parliament on Tuesday (1 June), the department\u00a0said that a four-stage alert level programme will be adopted to determine whether a school is ready for the full return of students.<\/p>\n

If a school is in an area declared to be alert level 1 then all pupils can return on a daily basis. Schools that are determined to have a level 3 or 4 alert levels will have rotational classes with pupils attending class on alternate days.<\/p>\n

The levels will be determined by the number of new Covid-19 cases in an area and are set to be updated every two weeks based on case numbers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

An explanation of the different levels was provided as follows:<\/p>\n

\n

Vigilance (Level 1 and 2)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n