Pupils at Rosendaal Senior Secondary in Delft, Cape Town, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Roger Sedres, Gallo Images via Getty Images
- It has been a tough three months for a lab employee and young mother to parent a child sitting at home while at work.
- With more pupils returning to school some parents will work well knowing their children are no longer home alone.
- The schools were closed on 27 March when the country went into a Level 5 hard lockdown. More grades are returning in phases.
No longer having to juggle between parenting a 12-year-old child who is home alone and a full-time job as a frontline worker in the fight against Covid-19, is a welcome relief for East London medical technologist Asanda Tyokolo thanks to Grade 6 pupils returning to school.
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Tyokolo was one of 91 parents of a Grade 6 class of Beaconhurst School who dropped off their pupils on Monday morning.
She said having to spend long hours at a lab while worrying about her child at home for the past three months was very challenging for her.
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Beaconhurst, situated in East London’s Beacon Bay suburb, was one of few schools that welcomed Grades R, 6 and 11 back on Monday despite a decision by the provincial education department to postpone the phasing in of those grades.
The school had applied for a deviation, which was granted by the department.
Speaking to News24 outside the gates of the school on Monday morning, Tyokolo said: “We have to trust the teachers with our children, what can we do? We pray everything is going to be fine.”
Tyokolo, who works for a private laboratory services company said: “I am a health worker and have a very demanding job and the father of my child is a business person who criss-crosses the province attending meetings. It has been a very tough three months for us.”
Closed
The schools closed when the country went into a Level 5 hard lockdown on 27 March.
When the country moved to alert Level 3, with the relaxation of regulations, schools re-opened in a phased manner with grades 12 and 7 returning first on 8 June.
“With the schools opened, at least we know the child is safe. I have taught her what to do here at school and prepared her, including wearing a mask all the time, and washing hands. The school had asked each parent to buy sanitisers, so she knows what to do,” said Tyokolo.
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Describing her highly demanding job, she said: “We are the doctors behind the scene, we analyse body fluids checking for bacteria. We currently get a lot of Covid-19 samples, more from government hospitals as well.”
Beaconhurst School headmaster Aubrey Norman told News24 how the school had put all measures in place to ensure safety of pupils.
Norman said the Grade R and 6 classes have each been split into two groups.
“They will be rotating, for example the Grade R class has a total of 62 pupils, only 31 will attend in a day, and the other group will attend the following day and on and on. Same with Grade 6 as well. This is to ensure social distance,” said Norman.
The Grade 6 class has a total of 91 pupils, said Norman.
Returning
Out of a total of 969 pupils at the school, 12 have indicated in writing that they will not be returning to school this year.
“Their parents said they will not be taking chances.”
The headmaster added: “It’s not easy but we are getting there, we have been here since 18 May to prepare for the return of the pupils. It is dealing with little ones that is worrying, hence we decided all lower grades will alternate coming to school. We only allowed for the full class, only for the matrics and Grade 11.”
Norman further said: “For the past three weeks, the entire class of 62 matrics has been attending. No one has applied for comorbidities in our matrics. It’s only a few from other grades with Grade 7 having the highest number of [pupils] who have applied to stay away.”
Norman said five pupils in the Grade 7 class are receiving distant learning after their parents tested positive.
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