Covid-19: School on alternate days or morning, afternoon division mooted
The department of basic education is proposing that the school timetable be rearranged to allow different grades to attend classes on alternate days of the week or in alternate weeks.
Schools could also introduce a platoon system in which pupils in certain grades attend classes in the morning and others in the afternoon.
These are the three options the department’s director-general, Mathanzima Mweli, put on the table during a virtual meeting with governing body associations and a principals’ association on Sunday.
The bodies that participated in the meeting included the Federation of Governing Bodies of SA Schools, Governing Body Foundation, National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) and the SA Principals’ Association.
During his presentation on the re-engineering of schooling, Mweli is said to have told the meeting that schools should operate at 50% of their normal capacity.
The document he discussed is expected to table at a special meeting of the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) on Monday, which would include basic education minister Angie Motshekga and the nine provincial education MECs. The CEM will consider the progress made towards the reopening of schools.
Motshekga is expected to address the nation on Monday about preparations for the reopening of schools.
One member who attended Mweli’s presentation said some of the basic principles around organising the timetable that was discussed included departmental regulations, the type of school, the time left in the school calendar and the differentiation in the level of difficulty of different subjects.
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