12 teachers have been confirmed as Covid 19 positive and the Port Louis SSS had to close on Thursday and may remain closed until further notice. However, these are teachers who have been in direct contact with the students who have not yet received a PCR test, they are not vaccinated and worse, they have been ordered to return home without guarantees. Parents are very worried. According to the protocols of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health will proceed to disinfection, and classes will resume normally on Friday, 22 October. But will parents send their children?
Irregular classes since Monday due to teachers’ absenteeism
The concern lies in the fact that classes have been irregular since Monday due to the fact that teachers are absent. Many parents have decided not to send their children to school following rumours of possible positive cases among teachers and posts on social networks. According to this mother whose son is admitted in Grade 7 at Port Louis SSS, “I am not the only one who thinks that these teachers were infected yesterday or this Thursday. On Tuesday, 19 October, my 13-year-old son entered his Grade 7 class and there was a strong, unbreathable smell of alcohol. He was told that the classroom had been disinfected by Tuesday morning. And there were rumours that some of the teachers had tested positive since last Friday 15th. Moreover, this rumour was confirmed because during the 9 periods of the day, he attended the classes of the 8th and 9th periods. His class was held by substitutes from 1st to 7th period. On this Thursday I decided not to send him to school anymore.”
Growing fear over the lack of clarity
The mother’s concern is that she has another son aged 15 who is not yet vaccinated and who attends another school. “The students have not yet had a PCR test. The school has not yet communicated a specific date. The word that has gone out is that this exercise will take place soon before classes resume. In the meantime, we remain in suspense,” she reveals. This single mother who has vaccinated fears for the health of her two sons but also for all those with whom they may have been in direct contact. She says she is waiting for the next Parent Teachers Association meeting scheduled for October 28 to ask the right questions. “The government, the ministries of education and health as well as the administration of Port Louis SSS is keeping us in the dark and there is very little communication in case of covid. As of Thursday, many parents have not been contacted at the breaking of the news of the school closure,” she says.
Fears VS PM’s sanction warning
With the closure of the Port Louis SSS school on Thursday, the fear is felt by the parents. Will they risk sending their children to school? Is this the resumption of the succession of cases in the schools? In any case, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth warned on Thursday at a function in Rose Belle with the cooperative societies that the GM will take action against parents who do not send their children to school. “The government offers many facilities for children from vulnerable families to go to school. Unfortunately, I see that there are people who do not send their children to school. This is an offence. Parents should know that they cannot keep their children at home,” he said.
