Over the past three months, Gauteng's Education Department says it has closed 20 schools interchangeably for one to three days due to a sharp increase in Covid-19 infections.
The latest school closure happened in Krugersdorp High School where classes were suspended for three days following confirmation that 9 learners tested positive for Covid-19.
The Gauteng Department of Education Spokesperson, Steve Mabona, says that they work through consultation with the department of health in order to determine which school must be closed and for how long.
"We've been working very closely with the department of health since we opened schools. You will know that we have standard operating procedures," said Mabona.
Our Schools will always inform us of the number of confirmed cases that they have recorded and based on that we will then make sure that our officials and the department of health officials visit the school, do an assessment and then make the call as to whether a school must be closed or not.
Mabona also went on to say that there are parents who tend to want to skip the process by demanding that a school must be closed based on their suspicions that there may be an outbreak of infection.
"Often at times, we will have parents who'll be saying a school must be closed because there are cases. We don't work that way we do a necessary assessment and make sure that we close a school as per the information at our disposal that would have been recommended by the department of health officials," he says
The Daily Maverick recently reported that as of 3 June 2021, more than 1000 learners in public schools across Gauteng with the duration of a week prior to the report.
Citing The Gauteng Provincial Command Council’s most recent (3 June) weekly media update which at the time, reported that "1,637 schools in Gauteng had positive Covid-19 cases, with 1,227 learners, 802 teachers and a total of 2,068 positive cases (this includes all staff and learners) in the province."
