Times Of Swaziland: SOME PARENTS RAISE CONCERNS ON SCHOOLS REOPENING AMID 3RD WAVE

SOME PARENTS RAISE CONCERNS ON SCHOOLS REOPENING AMID 3RD WAVE
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NHLANGANISO MKHONTA on 05/08/2021 08:44:00


MBABANE – Some parents have raised concerns about sending their children to
school on Monday while the country is in the grip of the third wave of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday alone, the country recorded a total of 836 new confirmed COVID-19
cases along with eight deaths. As soon as government published the daily
COVID-19 updates on social media pages, some members of the public reacted with
shock, asking almost similar questions on the decision to reopen schools amid
the increase in the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases. One parent asked if
the government consulted with the Ministry of Health before taking the decision
to reopen schools. Other parents said they were really not sure if sending their
children to school on Monday was a good idea.
Some parents argued that their children, those who were eligible to be
vaccinated (18 years old and above), had not been vaccinated. They said even
most of the parents as well were still not vaccinated hence both parents and
children had not vaccinated so both parties were still exposed to the virus.
Schools are expected to reopen on Monday after they have been closed for over a
month now since June 29. Eswatini Principals Association (EPA) President Welcome
Mhlanga said they will be having a meeting with the Ministry of Education and
Training tomorrow where he believed they would be deliberating on all the issues
around the reopening of schools. Similarly, Under Secretary in the Ministry of
Education and Training Bheki Gama said indeed they will be having a meeting with
the relevant stakeholders. He said he will then be able to state their stand as
a ministry after that meeting.
fear
Meanwhile, Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) President Mbongwa
Dlamini said the new COVID-19 cases indeed brought fear to parents. He said
there was a need for more consultations with the Ministry of Education and that
of Health to forge a way forward. He said as SNAT, they were wishing that the
parents be involved in all the consultative meetings so that a final decision
would be taken in favour of all stakeholders. He said there was a need for
everyone to be extra cautious and follow all COVID-19 regulations. Regarding the
ongoing vaccination exercise for educators, Dlamini said teachers should report
whenever they experienced challenges at the vaccination sites so that SNAT would
engage the Ministry of Health as soon as possible.
Director of Health Services Dr Vusi Magagula said the ministry had done an
assessment, which indicated that children were more exposed (to the virus) when
they were not at school because they were hardly controlled such that some would
be found on the roads.
He said the effect of children not learning for the past year would be increased
if schools remained closed. He added that when children were not at school, a
lot of girls fell pregnant, so if schools would remain closed, that effect would
increase. He encouraged the learners to follow all COVID-19 precautionary
measures, which included wearing of face masks, regular washing of hands with
soap and running water or using sanitiser and also practising social distancing.