Pretoria – Student nurses at Chris Hani Baragwanath Nursing College are expected to resume their classes following the suspension of lectures at the college last week.
The department was forced to suspend lectures following disruptions by disgruntled student nurses, who were protesting against, among other things, poor working conditions and demanded that three heads of department be fired.
Gauteng Health and Social Development MEC, Ntombi Mekgwe, said that following a meeting with all college principals last week, measures have been taken to deal with the challenges at the college.
These include lifting the suspension placed on college academic activity with immediate effect and the setting up of a task team to investigate allegations made by students.
“The task team will comprise independent professionals, who largely understand the nursing education sector. The terms of reference will be announced within the next seven days. Pending the outcome of the investigation by the task team, a moratorium will be placed on exclusions of learners who did not work on public holidays from writing examinations,” Mekgwe said, emphasising that this does not mean a blanket moratorium.
The task team will report its findings to the department within 30 days.
As a precautionary measure, Mekgwe said the department has decided to change the reporting lines of the affected HODs, pending the outcome of the investigation. The labour relations issues raised by students will also be dealt with by the department’s labour relations unit.
“We have undertaken an audit of all infrastructure challenges in nurses’ homes in Gauteng. The conditions of these homes are unacceptable and the process of identifying contractors to improve the situation is underway,” she said. – BuaNews
