Motshekga Confirms That covid19 Has Claimed over 1 000 Teachers

Sunday, February 14, 2021 at 7:01 PM by Samantha Riddle

- The Department of Basic Education has revealed that it has incurred major losses amid the Covid-19 pandemic

- Over 1 000 educators have passed away due to the crisis in South Africa

- This is according to the Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga

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The Department of Basic Education has lost many educators as the nation continues to battle against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mainstream — Motshekga confirmed that over 1 000 teachers have passed away. Image: Foto24/Gallo Images
Source: Getty Images

Speaking on Sunday afternoon ahead of schools opening on Monday for the first time this year, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga told the media that over 1 100 have died due to the virus.

Motshekga says that the Department has opted to phase in schools reopening over the course of the past 3 weeks.

Teachers and management staff have been in attendance for the past two weeks, hard at work preparing to welcome students back to the classroom.

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Motshekga revealed that a staggering 1 169 teachers have passed away between December to February.

From 12 February onwards, the number of educators who have passed away from Covid-19 stands at 159 fatalities.

The number of non-educators that work in the sector that passed away in between December and January currently stands at 69.

Experts have raised concerns that the amount of teaching time lost following the beginning of the outbreak will have a negative impact on the coming academic year.

Earlier, Briefly.co.za reported that the Department of Basic Education has sent out a warning to schools over illegally charging parents a registration fee.

The Department reported an influx of parents reporting schools for insisting on a fee to enrol their child.

Speaking out on the subject National Education Spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga told parents to simply refuse to pay:

“The department has received a lot of complaints from parents who indicate that schools are engaging in this unlawful practice. This is a warning from the Department of Basic Education to advise schools to refrain from this particular activity as it generates unnecessary tension between parents and schools. It creates a lot of pressure from parents as they think they need to pay monies for their children to be admitted when in fact this is not true."