When deciding whether to open/close schools we should be guided by two things (1) Experts & (2) Evidence. The head of the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) Prof Salim Abdool Karim (world-renown ID/epi specialist) has stated emphatically that schools should not close.... 1/n On (2) Evidence, the best evidence comes from @WCEDnews since WC was the first province to experience a surge *AND* had schools open at the same time. This 21 July press release by @DebbieSchafer is clear and transparent. Let's summarise it... nicspaull.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/21-jul… 2/n

If you missed the launch of the @NIDS_CRAM Wave 1 findings then this is my summary....a thread! All findings from this synthesis report: cramsurvey.org/wp-content/upl… ...1/n (1) 3-million South Africans lost their jobs during lockdown (Feb 2020 to April 2020) [note that's 3x more than during financial crisis] cramsurvey.org/wp-content/upl… 2/n

A few thoughts on #Budget2020: (1) Rises in public sector wages also have unintended (& often unacknowledged) consequences. In Basic Education wages have increased 45% faster than inflation for the last 10yrs. This has led to rises in class sizes and hiring freezes...(1/n) There is a trade-off between head-counts (# of teachers) and salaries (what they're paid). For a given budget higher salaries means fewer teachers. We see that in that there have been rising enrolments & declining #'s of teachers employed --> rising class sizes #Budget2020 2/n