IN the face of coronavirus storm,teachers want schooling suspended until after the peak.
This was the decision of the teachers biggest unions SADTU national executive committee in a special meeting yesterday. But for now the union general secretary Mugwena Maluleke is saying their members will continue teaching until the union leadership meets with Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and press on her to suspend classes.
“We are a law abiding citizens and we want to engage the minister so that she is the one who suspends schooling. We are going to say to the minister cay you stop classes with the immediate effect.
“If the minister does not agree with us we are going to embark in a programme of action. We are aware that we are in lockdown and we cannot be marching on the streets but there are lots of effective ways of demonstrating,” Maluleke said.
He said the union was tired of conveying condolences to teachers and their families but could not immediately share the figures of how many teacher have succumbed to the virus or the learners.
Maluleke said they want a meeting with the minister urgently so that by the end of the week they are in a position to advice their members. He claimed that currently there was little learning going in schools anyway, saying there were shortage of teachers as others could not come to school due to morbidities. School attendance was also very low and others are closing because of infections.
Last week Minister Motshekga more than 2 500 teachers and over 1 200 pupils have contracted Covid-19 since schools reopened,
