by Mary de Haas
While the Minister for Basic Education decides about school closure, I want to know what teachers have been doing for the past four months, and what they will do if schools close (The Mercury, July 20).
The schools in the UK have been closed since March, but my grandchildren are bombarded with work every week, which is submitted and marked.
Even though many South African children have no internet access, surely weekly worksheets for different subjects could be photocopied and disseminated by the schools, using pick-up points which are convenient for learners to collect, and to submit their work when it is done for marking?
In primary schools, for example, daily reading could be prescribed, and comprehension and arithmetic tests set (assuming learners have textbooks).
They should also be learning and revising spelling, language vocabulary and tables, and writing essays.
Given the appalling state of numeracy and literacy in South Africa, the more practice the lower grades get, the better.
Cribbing might be a problem if there is no parental oversight, and there would need to be a clear understanding that tests would be set on the work prescribed when learners finally return to school.
Surely, between inspectors, principals and teachers, some sort of system along these lines should have been devised and implemented months ago?
Likewise, it should not have needed a court order to implement school feeding schemes and, once these commence, it should be very easy to combine meal times with the dissemination and collection of work for children to do at home. We should not be paying any civil servants if they are not working for the salaries they are still lucky enough to receive.
The Mercury