Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:45 pm
South Africa reopened schools for pupils in certain grades after two and a half months of home-schooling to limit the spread of coronavirus.
On Monday, about 95 per cent of schools had reopened. The government had originally intended to reopen schools on June 1 but postponed this to June 8 after finding out that most schools required more time to better prepare facilities and train staff.
Eddie Kekana, Winnie Mandela Secondary School principal told the press: āWhat we need to do is to make a mechanism of sustainability so this that you see here must not be for today, it is continuous, it must be a way of life.
āItās the new normal. Theyāll have to get usedā¦ Every day these soap stations must be there, the kids must know that āoh from time to time I have to wash my handsā¦āā
Mandla Masinga, is a grade 12 student at the school: āAh, I donāt know, eish, itās kind of confusing because like when the infection number was low nobody was expected to be at school, but now the number of infections is high and we are expected to be back at school so I donāt think itās fair.ā
Despite the number of COVID-19 cases growing sharply, the government is keen on the phased reopening of public and independent schools, with a cluster of grades returning on July 6 and the last cluster back on August 3.
The country has the continentās highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases. As of Monday, South Africa had more than 50,000 confirmed cases and 1,080 deaths.