Since 15 February Khanya College’s Community Monitors have been monitoring the COVID-19 protocol compliance in various schools in Gauteng. It has become very difficult to do the monitoring with some schools because they refuse to let anyone monitor the school unless they have an official letter from the Department of Education (DoE), but the DoH refuses to issue permission letter.
At a secondary school in Ekangala (a township east of Tshwane), the principal said; “
should the school appear in the media for all the reasons that you will capture during your monitoring, I will lose my job because they will ask how did I let you monitor the school without their permission.”
Miss Tshabalala (not her real name), a primary school teacher in Ekangala, shared that she was happy to see Khanya’s community monitors coming to monitor the school. Miss Tshabalala also said that they [her school] were confident because they try their best to follow all the COVID-19 protocols but they do need help with PPEs and educational materials.
Khanya has been able to assist and has provided the schools it monitors with informative posters and flyers for children and families, which have been very useful because the teachers have used them to remind the learners about how to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Other schools have had problems with maintaining COVID-19 regulations and the presence of Khanya has put them under pressure to also make sure they follow the protocols, not only the teachers but the learners too. It is important to care about the community in working class areas and this is why we cannot in good conscious let working class schools operate without following the regulations and receiving the proper support from the DoE to make sure everyone is safe and alive.
This article was submitted on 10 March 2021. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
