Home | News | SNAT’S ULTIMATUM TO GOVT ON OPENING OF SCHOOLS

SNAT’S ULTIMATUM TO GOVT ON OPENING OF SCHOOLS

18/06/2020 00:43:00 BY STANLEY KHUMALO

Font size:

MANZINI – The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) has given government an ultimatum for the reopening of schools.
Government’s plan to reopen schools could be in jeopardy because of fears expressed by teachers that schools across the country were not ready for the big step.

SNAT threatened that their members would not turn up at schools on July 6, 2020, if government does not put its house in order. Chief among the union’s concerns is the slow delivery, or no delivery, of essentials such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and water tanks.

The need for deep cleansing of schools and refurbishing of vandalised classes, as well as the lack of screening of teachers and learners with pre-existing conditions, are added concerns.
Some teachers are expected to be at school a week or two before schools open.

Timelines

The association, in fact, gave government timelines of what needed to be done before the school calendar resumed. SNAT Secretary General Sikelela Dlamini said as teachers, they expected that water tanks and PPE would be delivered in schools by June 26, 2020, which is almost a week from today.
Furthermore, he said on this date, flush toilets should be installed in rural schools while teachers should have been screened in order to identify those who had underlying conditions.

“The issue of teachers with comorbidities and all civil servants closer to retirement was submitted to government to allow those who were at a higher risk to stay home while government recruits personnel,” Dlamini said.

Worth noting is that public sector associations (PSAs) in the joint negotiation forum (JNF) suggested that government should consider offering a voluntary retirement package to civil servants who were 55 years old and above to protect them from contracting the virus.

Also, Dlamini said meeting the June 26 timeline would allow government to address some of the challenges that could arise in the last week (June 29 – July 3) prior to the scheduled schools opening. He also said the administration would have time to inform the public of the status quo.
The school calendar is anticipated to restart on July 6, 2020 following an extension that was pronounced by the Prime Minister, Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, a week ago.

Initially, it had been announced that schools would open on July 1, 2020 for Form Vs and final year tertiary students.

Inconsistencies

Given this timeline by government, the teachers’ union said the inconsistencies that have come to the forefront since the preparations for resuming the school calendar started, had led them to advise their members not to bother thinking about resuming work.
“As teachers are expected to go back to work, they are assuming the status of frontline workers and need the PPEs. So, if it is not available by July 26, there is no point in them heading to work,” Dlamini said.

He said under the current circumstances, there was no way they would advice their members to resume their work if government, through the Ministry of Education and Training, did not adhere to the standards set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Dlamini said as an organisation, they were not willing to be government’s sacrificial lambs due to its inadequate preparations for the resumption of the school calendar.

He said: “We’ve been monitoring with keen interest what has been happening in South Africa and inadequate preparations resulted in that country’s teachers contracting the coronavirus.”

Dlamini reiterated that they would not resume their duties until all the essential supplies required to manage the COVID-19 pandemic had been delivered. He said at the moment, government was not ready to reopen schools and handle the influx of learners and teachers. He said as an association, they were willing to support government but it had to be honest with them.

Manner

He said the honesty would be in providing a plan to be followed and articulate the exact manner that was being administered. Dlamini said updates on developments were necessary and should be frequent as this affected all stakeholders (parents, pupils, teachers and government).
“This will help identify anyone in the chain who does not do his or her job.”

Leading to this ultimatum, SNAT had tendered 15 demands that they wanted addressed before teachers could resume work. Among the demands was that government should extensively disinfect schools and tertiary institutions before reopening.

They also want a site nurse deployed in every school and institutions, with a kit that will enable the health professional to conduct temperature screening for the teachers, learners, members of the support staff and everyone entering each school as an open system on a daily basis.

SNAT added that massive testing should also be rolled out, over and above the temperature screening process, as it were.
The country has 888 public schools.