The DA (Democratic Alliance) Youth in the Western Cape has launched a Safe Schooling direct telephone, WhatsApp, SMS and email line for any young person to contact us and report possible unsafe school environments that may not have Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or clear safety protocols in place.

These complaints will be flagged directly with the office of the MEC for Education, Debbie Schafër, who has committed to ensuring all young people return to school in the safest possible conditions.

We will report weekly via our public platforms on the progress of these complaints and the efforts undertaken to ensure young people can access quality basic education.

The DA Youth in the Western Cape welcomes the efforts of the WCED to ensure the safe and efficient opening of schools in the province, as required by the gazette of the National Minister of Basic Education.

The expenditure of more than R280 million by the provincial government to ensure that Western Cape schools have access to PPEs and necessary safety protocols are implemented is indicative of the Western Cape Government’s commitment to ensure young people have access to safe, quality basic education.

Furthermore, we are concerned by the seemingly politically motivated efforts of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to obstruct young people’s constitutional right to education, rather than safeguard it.

We call on the SAHRC to investigate and intervene in the actual injustices of our time such as the murder of Collins Khosa, whose right to life was stripped away by securocrats, rather than obstruct the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) from providing safe, quality basic education to young people.

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented a difficult time for all of us. Learners, teachers and parents are anxious about their safety as well their academic future, and rightly so. It is therefore important that we address the safety of our school community as well as the academic future of our youth - not one over the other.

This Youth Month, young people deserve to have a political party that will fight for their future in a post-COVID-19 South Africa, ensuring that we come out stronger than before.

Together we will overcome Covid-19 and ensure no youth is left behind!

The DA Youth Western Cape Safe Schooling Hotline can be contacted via the following:

Telephone: +27 84 842 1218

Email: WCYouth@da.org.za

Issued by The DA Youth in the WC