DBE Minister Angie Motshekga has always insisted they are guided by the advice from the Health Experts in whether to close down schools or to keep them open amidst the 3rd wave of the Covid-19 currently sweeping through the country.
In a bombshell interview with Aldrin Sempear on SA FM, Dr. Angelique Coetzee from SAMA (South African Medical Association) disputed the claim by the DBE Minister Motshekga that the health experts have advised to keep the schools opened during the 3rd wave.
Dr. Coetzee insisted that they advised that schools be closed down because the situation on the ground is getting worse!
Dr. Coetzee sounded extremely frustrated and emotional as she explained how the health experts advise is ignored by the Minister. The health experts have advised that the country go on a stricter lock-down. The Gauteng Premier David Makhura said that the Province is on fire with high volumes of positive cases.
While DBE has embarked on a great program which is to vaccinate teachers, fears are growing as children may continue to be the careers of the virus. Minister Angie Motshekga said that “At all times, we follow the advice of public health experts,” the confusion and mixed information is becoming the order of the day.
Currently the country is on alert level 3 lockdown and may move to even stricter lock-down making it very difficult to believe the Minister if she says that schools have everything under control while the country does not have everything under control.
Her balancing act may be very risky as she’s more concerned about avoiding “academic disaster”. The country is facing a National Disaster and in a State of Emergency yet schools are planning to open up for more grades to attend schools. This seems opposite to what the country is trying to do.