Returning students and staff members get free face masks
All returning students and staff members of the North-West University, on all three delivery sites, will receive two free face masks. This is one of the steps that the NWU has taken to ensure the safety of both staff and students. Mandatory face masks have been prescribed by government guidelines to help curb the spread of Covid-19.
In Potchefstroom the Student Representative Council will help distribute these masks at the Amphitheatre between 12:00 and 14:00 from 23 to 26 June. The following two weeks masks will be distributed on Tuesdays and Fridays, to make sure that all returning students have masks for protection against the virus.
In Vanderbijlpark the Student Life office works with house parents, house committees and the SCC to deliver the masks to the correct recipients on a daily bases between 07:00 and 21:00, according to Jim Simango, director of Student Life at NWU Vaal.
“Residents of NWU Mahikeng have already received their masks,” said Freedom Gwele, residents and catering service manager. Off-campus students will still get their masks.
The Potchefstroom SRC circulated messages on faculty and resident WhatsApp groups stating two free masks will be given to returning students.
Photo by Umamah Bakharia
“The NWU is taking Covid-19 very seriously and they are doing everything they can to help students in a time of uncertainty. These masks are just one of the steps being taken from outside for returning students,” said Pieter Hattingh, SRC vice chairperson.
Matthew Van Wyk, SRC residence council head, said “two masks are allocated to every returning student and there is a system in place where we can verify the return of the student before giving a mask.”
Photo by Umamah Bakharia
The system makes use of a computer program that contains names of returning students that the NWU has provided permits to and will be allowed access to the campuses according to Van Wyk.
The mask is made in the university colour, purple and has the NWU mascot, Eagles, printed on one side.
Bokomoso Maeko, a second-year nursing student, said this is a great initiative. “The NWU is really showing that they care about us returning students and they are doing what they can to make this journey easy for us.”
Photo by Umamah Bakharia
Mashadi Lebogo, also a second-year nursing student, agrees by saying “I am grateful for the NWU for taking care of us.”
Photo by Umamah Bakharia
The packaging of the mask warns that it is not a replacement for normal precautionary hygiene measures such as handwashing, not touching one’s face, coughing or sneezing into a tissue or elbow and keeping proper social distance of 1,5 metres from other people.