As the temperature swells into the late 20s, the heat becomes so unbearable that the drenched teacher decides to stop the lesson conducted from a crammed school storeroom to allow her 39 pupils to get some fresh air outside. 

Like any typical storeroom, this one at Elsie Ngidi Primary School in Tshiawelo, Soweto, has high, tiny windows that allow little ventilation, risking transmission of Covid-19 as some of the grade 1 pupils are not wearing their masks properly. The “classroom” has desks from wall to wall and the space between them is less than 30cm, making it difficult for the teacher to move around. ..