SOME PARENTS RAISE CONCERNS ON SCHOOLS REOPENING AMID 3RD WAVE

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.  

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