“As a country, we are unwittingly setting in motion the wheels of a secondary crisis that will have untold ramifications for many years to come.”
I wrote these words in August of last year in an opinion piece titled “School principals a critical part of Covid-19 recovery”.
In the piece, I advocated for principals and educators to be classified as frontline workers in the battle against Covid-19.
I argued tprincipals are conduits into communities tens, often hundreds of thousands strong.
As community leaders, they are a highly valuable and respected resource, involved at one of the sharpest and most dangerous edges of the South African coalface.
If Covid-19 is going to be brought under control in a way that mitigates against massive future fallout within society, leaders and schools need to be properly equipped as critical weapons in the arsenal against the pandemic.
I suggested if we do not do this, the opposite will occur: we will see a catastrophic and generationally devastating impact on an already strained education system. We will see death, trauma and a resultant crisis in education – all on a massive scale. I so wish I had been wrong.
What is to become of our children when their teachers are cut down by this virus? And what of the trauma experienced by the school community as educators fall? How do we address the deepening crisis of depression and related mental health issues now coming to the fore as educators and principals plead for help?
Over 1 600 teachers in South Africa are believed to have succumbed to Covid-19. One school in uMgungundlovu, KwaZulu-Natal, has been decimated: 11 teachers, and three admin workers have all passed away.
We are not headed for, but are in, a massive crisis in communities and in education. Where, in the next few weeks, do we find 1 600 additional, qualified educators to replace these lives so tragically lost?
Leadership is the solution. Research is clear that the difference between a failing school and a successful school is the school principal. This individual, when capacitated, energised and properly supported, is able to equip and mobilise the school management team, school governing body and community at large to participate to make the local school the fulcrum around which a functional and healthy community system revolves. Just imagine what a massive on-the-ground asset this would be in the fight against Covid-19 (or indeed in any crisis), not to mention the fact that such a school is always a beacon of educational excellence.
What leadership support are we giving our school principals to lead in and through this crisis? And if we agree that their role is vital, which surely no one would argue against, we must immediately advocate for them to be included in the first batch of vaccines, along with their teams.
The only thing that stands between us and this “third pandemic” becoming utterly overwhelming. This reality must urgently trigger a massive and concerted effort from both government, civil society and the business community to support the leadership capabilities of our principals through this crisis.
Justin Foxton is a freelance writer and a leadership, community development and transformation consultant. He is founder and chief executive of the Peace Agency and a member of Partners for Possibility.
The Star