Sports, choirs and tournaments are permitted again at schools following an amendment to Covid-19 directions by the Department of Basic Education.
The signed amendment, dated 27 March, gives the go-ahead for school sports matches, physical education, extra-curricular activities, and inter-school, district, provincial and national school sport tournaments.
However, the conditions are tough, with no spectators allowed and a host of other rules that must be adhered to.
These are:
- A Covid-19 compliance officer must be appointed for each venue;
- There must only be one controlled entrance to the venue;
- All participants must undergo health and temperature screening before warm-up or the event;
- Any person who enters the venue must undergo health and temperature screening;
- Hand sanitisers must be available at the entrance gate and every person who enters the venue must sanitise their hands;
- Participants and officials must sanitise their hands before and after a match or event;
- A person who leaves the venue temporarily and returns again, must redo the process of health and temperature screening, and hand sanitising;
- For contact tracing, a register of all officials and pupils from visiting and hosting schools who are attending a school match or event must be kept by the hosting school for at least 21 days. It must contain the following information of officials and pupils:
- Full names; residential address; cellphone number, telephone number or email address; and, contact details of the people living in the same residence as the person attending training or a school match or event;
- A digital registration and health screening platform, such as the Teacher Connect Application, may also be used to assist with the administration of the registration process;
- If a person has Covid-19 symptoms or presents with a temperature above 38°C, that person must be refused access into the venue;
- The number of people, including participants, referees, adjudicators, technical officials, volunteers, medical team, media or broadcasting team, and stadium workers, permitted at a venue at any one time is limited to: A maximum of 100 people, for indoor venues; A maximum of 250 people for outdoor venues;
- If the venue is too small to hold 100 people indoors or 250 persons outdoors, observing a distance of at least 1.5m from each other, then not more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used, subject to strict adherence to all health protocols and social distancing measures;
- Teams, technical officials, volunteers, relevant stadium staff, medical staff and registered members of the media or broadcaster team must leave the venue as soon as their responsibilities are completed. Social distancing and the wearing of face masks must always be maintained by people not participating in matches or events;
- Participants must always wear face masks, except when participating in an event;
- Technical officials must report before the start of any event or competition for Covid-19 regulations and protocol briefing session and screening;
- All ablution facilities must be sanitised regularly and kept clean as per Covid-19 protocols; entry to the ablution area will be regulated to adhere to social distancing protocols; and all sport equipment must be sanitised before and after use;
- Championships, tournaments and inter-school sport matches that require learners to travel to other schools or provinces may resume without spectators;
- A list of names of all officials, pupils and any other person from the visiting school must be provided to the hosting school at least three days before an event or match, for the purposes of compliance;
- Oral history, spelling bees, moot court, speech contests, debates and school clubs may resume activities, without spectators with strict adherence to social distancing, hygiene and safety measures;
- Choir practice or rehearsals, choir competitions and inter-school choir events may resume, without spectators;
- In order to comply with the venue capacity, the categories permitted to participate in respect of the South African Choral Eisteddfod (SASCE) are limited to small ensembles, farm schools, special schools, female and male voices.
-The Citizen
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