Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has published new directions on school reopening dates for the remaining grades.
In a gazette notice on Tuesday, Motshekga indicated that the next date in the phased reopening of schools will be 20 July while the last date will be 31 August.
Grades 7 and 12, as well as Year 4 of Schools of Skills, returned on 1 June, while Grades R, 6 and 11 resumed on 6 July. For the remaining grades, the new school calendar 2020 is as follows:
20 July, 2020
- Grade 3
- Grade 10
- Schools 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): Year 3
- Schools with autistic learners: final year (18 years and above).
27 July, 2020
- Grades 1 and 2
- Schools of Skill: Year 2
- Schools for Learners with Severe Intellectual
- SID: Grades 1 and 2
- LSPID: Years 1 and 2
- Schools with autistic learners: Junior group (below 13 years).
17 August, 2020
- Grade 4
- Grade 9
- Year 1 in Schools of Skill
- Schools with autistic learners: Senior group (13 years and above).
Kenyan schools to resume in 2021
As South Africa forges ahead with schools reopening, Kenyan education authorities declared the 2020 school year “lost” because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The school calendar usually runs between January and November, but Kenya’s Education Minister, Prof. George Magoha, said COVID-19 infection rates are only expected to flatten in December.
“Faced with this uncertain environment, the stakeholders have resolved to reopen all basic education learning institutions in January 2021,” Magoha said on Tuesday.
Like many countries, Kenya closed schools in March when it recorded its first COVID-19 cases. It now has more than 8,000 confirmed cases and 164 deaths.
Nevertheless, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the lifting of local travel restrictions on Monday and said international flights will resume on 1 August. A 9pm to 4am curfew remains in place.
As of 6 July, South Africa had 205,721 confirmed cases, 97,848 recoveries and 3,310 losses of lives. The recovery rate stood at 47.6 percent.