THE fight for better schools was taken to the streets yesterday when about a thousand pupils from across the province marched to the provincial education headquarters in Zwelitsha.
Led by education lobby group Equal Education, the march was held to prompt the education department to not only put into action, but to release a provincial plan on the implementation of norms and standards for school infrastructure.
Principals, teachers and school governing body members joined the march. Two non-governmental institutions – the Right to Know Campaign and the Unemployed People’s Movement – showed their support.
A memorandum of demands was handed over to education officials.
According to Equal Education Eastern Cape chairman Lumkile Zani, yesterday marked one year before the cut-off date in 2016 when no school in South Africa should be without adequate structures, water, electricity and sanitation.
“But on our school visits we went to around 40 schools where we either found that principals had no idea about the norms and standards or that while the infrastructure challenges of the school had been noted by the department, nothing had yet been done to address them,” Zani told the marchers.
Marching for better schools
Led by education lobby group Equal Education, the march was held to prompt the education department to not only put into action, but to release a provincial plan on the implementation of norms and standards for school infrastructure.
Principals, teachers and school governing body members joined the march. Two non-governmental institutions – the Right to Know Campaign and the Unemployed People’s Movement – showed their support.
A memorandum of demands was handed over to education officials.
According to Equal Education Eastern Cape chairman Lumkile Zani, yesterday marked one year before the cut-off date in 2016 when no school in South Africa should be without adequate structures, water, electricity and sanitation.
“But on our school visits we went to around 40 schools where we either found that principals had no idea about the norms and standards or that while the infrastructure challenges of the school had been noted by the department, nothing had yet been done to address them,” Zani told the marchers.
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