With just three days to go before South Africa moves to level three lockdown, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma signed new amendments to lockdown regulations.

The amendments can be found here and the full document containing the regulations can be found here.

There are a number of amendments that pertain to school children that should be noted by parents and educators.

The most important of these is to do with permits.

For school children who have to travel across provincial borders in order to attend school, a permit will be required. The permit must be issued by the school and include both an official school stamp and the head of the school’s signature.

However, the permit (Form 3A pictured above) requires that it is accompanied by an identity document or drivers license. While this is okay for Grade 12 learners, Grade 7 learners simply can’t have either of those forms of identification as Government states on its website regarding applications for IDs.

“If you are 16 years and older, you may apply for identity document,” says government. Whether a certified copy of a birth-certificate will serve this purpose is unclear according to the form.

In addition to this form, anybody who is transporting learners on behalf of a school or higher learning institution will required to have Form 3B (pictured below) as well as an ID or drivers license.

With schools set to reopen on 1st June, the pressure is now on for schools to get these forms to learners ahead of them travelling next week.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]