(1)
| (a) | The phased return of learners and officials to school will be as follows: |
GRADES
|
RETURN TO SCHOOL DATE
|
| • | School of Skills: Year 4 |
|
1 June 2020
|
|
6 July 2020
|
| • | School of Skills: Year 3; |
| • | Schools for Learners with Severe Intellectual Disabilities ("SID"): Grade R, Grade 3 and final year (Occupational); |
| • | Schools with Learners with Severe and Profound Intellectual Disabilities ("LSPID"): Years 3; and |
| • | Schools with autistic learners: final year (18 years and above). |
|
20 July 2020
|
| • | School of Skill: Year 2; |
| • | Schools for Learners with Severe Intellectual Disabilities ("SID"): Grades 1 and 2; |
| • | Schools with Learners with Severe and Profound Intellectual Disabilities ("LSPID"): Years 1 and 2; and |
| • | Schools with autistic learners: Junior group (below 13 years). |
|
27 July 2020
|
| • | Year 1 in Schools of Skill; and |
| • | Schools with autistic learners: Senior Group (13 years and above). |
|
17 August 2020
|
| • | Schools for Learners with Severe Intellectual Disabilities ("SID"): Grades 4 and 5. |
|
31 August 2020
|
[Direction 5(1)(a) substituted by section 2 of Notice No. 370, GG43510, dated 7 July 2020]
| (b) | A Member of the Executive Council responsible for education in a province, who is unable to comply with the phased return of learners and officials to school, must, at least seven days before the date identified for the return of the respective grades, as contemplated in paragraph (a), submit a report to the Minister for concurrence or further determination, which report must include— |
| (i) | the reasons for the non-compliance; and |
| (ii) | a plan with the proposed dates for the phased return of learners and officials in the respective grades. |
[Direction 5(1)(b) inserted by section 2 of Notice No. 370, GG43510, dated 7 July 2020]
| (2) | Only those schools and offices that have complied with the minimum health, safety and social distancing measure on COVID-19, as contemplated in these directions and the Regulations, will be allowed to open as contemplated in subdirection (1): Provided that a public school must also have all the COVID-19 essentials in place. |
| (3) | A school or office that has failed to comply with the minimum health, safety and social distancing measures on COVID-19, as contemplated in these directions and the Regulations, will remain closed until all the health, safety and social distancing measures are in place. |
| (4) | The Head of Department, or a person duly authorised by him or her, must continuously monitor and evaluate the phased return of schools and the maintenance of hygiene and safety standards for the duration of the national state of disaster and must report, in writing, every two weeks, to the Department of Basic Education on— |
| (a) | the number of COVID-19 cases in schools; |
| (b) | any failure to meet the required minimum health, safety and social distancing measures on COVID-19, including those set out in section 5 of the DBE Standard Operating Procedures and the DBE Guidelines, including the COVID-19 essentials in the case of a public school; and |
| (c) | the Head of Department’s determination on whether a school will be permitted to open, in terms of sub-directions (2) and (3). |
| (5) | Should it be determined, in terms of sub-direction (4)(c), that a school does not meet the minimum health, safety and social distancing requirements on COVID-19, the Head of Department, or a person duly authorised by him or her, must, together with the school, formulate a plan that includes, but is not limited to, the following: |
| (a) | Scope of the problem; |
| (b) | measures taken to address the problem; and |
| (c) | any challenges experienced in addressing the problem. |
| (6) | The school must ensure that the plan, as contemplated in sub-direction (5), is communicated to officials, parents and learners without undue delay. |
| (7) | The Head of Department, or a person duly authorised by him or her, must make reasonable arrangements with schools to ensure the provision of learning material and continued teaching to learners who are unable to attend school due to— |
| (a) | an underlying health condition; |
| (b) | being self-isolated or quarantined due to COVID-19 symptoms or testing positive for COVID-19; |
| (c) | a decision taken by the Head of Department to close a school or part of a school, after consultation with a health official in accordance with the DBE Standard Operating Procedures as a result of a confirmed COVID-19 case; or |
| (d) | a determination made in terms of sub-direction (4)(c). |
| (8) | A parent, caregiver or a designated family member, must ensure that the teaching and learning material, as contemplated in sub-direction (7), are collected or accessed as per arrangement with the school. |
| (8A) | The Head of Department must ensure that the schools continue to conduct assessments of learners and provide feedback to the learners or parents. |
[Direction 5(8A) inserted by section 3 of Notice No. 411, GG43578, dated 2 August 2020]
| (9) | Aftercare facilities that are managed by or operating at a school, and aftercare facilities in education support centres, are allowed to re-open in line with the phased re-opening of grades, as contemplated in sub-direction (1): Provided that they comply with the minimum health, safety and social distancing measures and requirements on COVID-19, referred to in the section 5 of the DBE Standard Operating Procedures and the DBE Guidelines. |
| (10) | Subject to sub-direction (10A) and compliance with social distancing, hygiene and safety measures to prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19, non-contact sport training, inter-school non-contact sport matches and non-contact sport-related activities and arts and culture school-based activities in schools, may resume without any spectators. |
[Direction 5(10) substituted by section 2(a) of Notice No. 579, GG43826, dated 21 October 2020]
| (10A) | The following safety measures must be adhered to when resuming the activities contemplated in sub-direction (10): |
| (a) | The number of persons in the sporting venues, change rooms or training area, at any given time, must not be more than 50% of the capacity of the venue with persons observing the social distancing requirements; |
| (b) | schools that compete in inter-school format must adhere to the limitation of— |
| (i) | 250 persons or less, in the case of an indoor activity; and |
| (ii) | 500 or less, in the case of an outdoor activity: |
Provided that no more than 50% of the capacity of the venue is used with persons observing the social distancing requirements;
| (c) | face masks must be worn by all persons entering the sporting venues, change rooms or training area, except when participating in training or matches; |
| (d) | there must be sufficient quantities of hand sanitizers with at least 70% alcohol content available for use by all officials, coaches, assistants, learners and participants; |
| (e) | there must be facilities for washing of hands with soap and water; |
| (f) | all windows and doors must remain open, where feasible, to ensure adequate ventilation; |
| (g) | social distancing must be maintained at all times; and |
| (h) | the sharing of water bottles, energy drinks and other drinks is not allowed. |
[Direction 5(10A) inserted by section 2(b) of Notice No. 579, GG43826, dated 21 October 2020]
| (10B) | Contact sport training may resume: Provided that all social distancing, hygiene and safety measures are observed and that there is no physical contact between participants during training. |
[Direction 5(10B) inserted by section 2(b) of Notice No. 579, GG43826, dated 21 October 2020]
| (10C) | The school must ensure that sporting venues, tools and equipment are cleaned and sanitized before and after any sporting activities. |
[Direction 5(10C) inserted by section 2(b) of Notice No. 579, GG43826, dated 21 October 2020]
| (10D) | Subject to compliance with the Regulations for Safety Measures in Public Schools, as published under Government Notice No. 1040 in Government Gazette No. 22754 of 12 October 2001, national championships and tournaments for non-contact sport that require learners to travel to other schools or provinces may resume. |
[Direction 5(10D) inserted by section 2(b) of Notice No. 579, GG43826, dated 21 October 2020]
| (10E) | The school must keep a register of all officials and learners from visiting schools who are attending training or a school event, which register must contain the following information: |
| (c) | cell phone number, telephone number or email address; and |
| (d) | contact details of the person or persons living in the same residence as the person attending training or a school event. |
[Direction 5(10E) inserted by section 2(b) of Notice No. 579, GG43826, dated 21 October 2020]
| (10F) | Subject to strict adherence to all social distancing, hygiene and safety measures, co-curricular and enrichment programmes, such as oral history, spelling bee, moot court, speech contests, debates and school clubs, may resume activities. |
[Direction 5(10F) inserted by section 2(b) of Notice No. 579, GG43826, dated 21 October 2020]
| (10G) | Subject to strict adherence to all social distancing, hygiene and safety measures, choir practise or rehearsals may resume. |
[Direction 5(10G) inserted by section 2(b) of Notice No. 579, GG43826, dated 21 October 2020]
| (11) | Scholar transport must comply with the Directions issued by the Department of Transport. |
