Cape Town - With operations at public schools protected and foreseen to be largely uninterrupted by the national shutdown, for some tertiary institutions it’ll be business as usual with caution applied as the EFF take to the streets in protest.
Since two weeks ago, EFF members have been distributing leaflets, alerting members of the public over today’s shutdown against load shedding and calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s resignation.
Last week, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) said public schools would be closed on the day of the shutdown for a planned school holiday.
Education MEC David Maynier said the school calendar was gazetted by the national minister a year in advance, and indicated that all public schools had a special school holiday on March 20 due to Tuesday being a public holiday – Human Rights Day.
“It is not clear why the EFF has threatened to close schools on a planned school holiday. I hope this allays the concerns of the public, and especially our parents, who are worried that the EFF might put the safety of their children at risk,” Maynier said.
At the UCT, spokesperson Elijah Moholola said operations would proceed as planned today.
Cape Peninsula University of Technology spokesperson Lauren Kansley said the university would have its usual recess commencing today and therefore no lessons were scheduled to take place. Recess comes following the end of Term 1, said Kansley and was expected to last for about a week.
She added that normal staff operations would however continue on the day.
UWC spokesperson Gasant Abarder said the university would be operating as normal.
“We have well established business continuity plans for any eventuality or scenario,” Abarder said.
The teaching and learning programme at Stellenbosch University (SU) is also expected to go ahead as planned.
Spokesperson Martin Viljoen said: “In collaboration with the relevant authorities, SU monitors national and regional security trends on a continuous basis.
“Taking into account the relevant security information, the university confirms that Monday is a normal academic day as per the published 2023 Almanac. All academic and other activities will therefore continue as planned.”