BATTLELINES have been drawn as two Eastern Cape communities hundreds of kilometres apart brace to force the provincial government to provide them with well-resourced, functional schools .
Parents at Dwadwa Primary in Brakfontein east of East London are fighting for classrooms and have requested intervention from the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
In Zalarha outside King William’s Town, parents are seeking legal advice to force the department to re-open Sakuphumelela Senior Secondary, closed more than five years ago, as some pupils now travel more than 10km to another school.
For five years Dwadwa pupils have studied in a rondavel, lounge and shack owned by a local farmer, with the department paying more than R10000 a month in rent. Even in this, the department is in arrears.
When pupils migrated from Sakuphumelela Senior Secondary School, considered one of the better-resourced schools in the province, following an unresolved dispute between teachers, the facilities were left unoccupied.
“Parents have had enough with the department and recently raised the need for adequate classrooms with the SAHRC,” Thembele Mqoji, a parent of a Dwadwa Primary pupil, said.
“For five years now, our children have been crammed into a small space. We all feel that this cannot continue like this anymore.”
Victor Moyeni, a parent representing Sakuphumelela SSS, said: “We intend taking a legal route. We have been sent from pillar to post. We’ve tried every avenue to have our school reopened . We were shocked to learn that we were among the 310 gazetted for closure without any consultation.”
Parents at Dwadwa Primary said their problems started in 2009 when the province failed to provide classrooms after the school had to vacate premises at a Roman Catholic Church .
Close to 200 pupils were left without a classroom . “It was totally unfair,” farmer Fikile Ntlabati said, adding that he had donated 1.5 hectares to the department but nothing had happened.
Parents said the school had lost several private donors after the department failed to approve them. Children were in danger with a number of rapes reported to police.
The Ntlabati family had sacrificed its rondavel, built to host traditional ceremonies, for 72 pupils in Grades R, 1, 2 and 3, while Grades 4, and 5 were taught in the shack and 6 and 7 in the lounge.
At Sakuphumelela SSS, wasted facilities include:
l Eight classrooms;
l An administration block with nine offices;
l A science lab;
l 10 toilets;
l Water and electricity;
l Desks and chairs; and
l Textbooks .
Education provincial spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said the department would engage with the community of Dwadwa Primary and it would consider reopening Sakuphumelela SSS as the number of pupils provided by parents yesterday was higher than last reported. —
Tale of two schools
Parents at Dwadwa Primary in Brakfontein east of East London are fighting for classrooms and have requested intervention from the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
In Zalarha outside King William’s Town, parents are seeking legal advice to force the department to re-open Sakuphumelela Senior Secondary, closed more than five years ago, as some pupils now travel more than 10km to another school.
For five years Dwadwa pupils have studied in a rondavel, lounge and shack owned by a local farmer, with the department paying more than R10000 a month in rent. Even in this, the department is in arrears.
When pupils migrated from Sakuphumelela Senior Secondary School, considered one of the better-resourced schools in the province, following an unresolved dispute between teachers, the facilities were left unoccupied.
“Parents have had enough with the department and recently raised the need for adequate classrooms with the SAHRC,” Thembele Mqoji, a parent of a Dwadwa Primary pupil, said.
“For five years now, our children have been crammed into a small space. We all feel that this cannot continue like this anymore.”
Victor Moyeni, a parent representing Sakuphumelela SSS, said: “We intend taking a legal route. We have been sent from pillar to post. We’ve tried every avenue to have our school reopened . We were shocked to learn that we were among the 310 gazetted for closure without any consultation.”
Parents at Dwadwa Primary said their problems started in 2009 when the province failed to provide classrooms after the school had to vacate premises at a Roman Catholic Church .
Close to 200 pupils were left without a classroom . “It was totally unfair,” farmer Fikile Ntlabati said, adding that he had donated 1.5 hectares to the department but nothing had happened.
Parents said the school had lost several private donors after the department failed to approve them. Children were in danger with a number of rapes reported to police.
The Ntlabati family had sacrificed its rondavel, built to host traditional ceremonies, for 72 pupils in Grades R, 1, 2 and 3, while Grades 4, and 5 were taught in the shack and 6 and 7 in the lounge.
At Sakuphumelela SSS, wasted facilities include:
l Eight classrooms;
l An administration block with nine offices;
l A science lab;
l 10 toilets;
l Water and electricity;
l Desks and chairs; and
l Textbooks .
Education provincial spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said the department would engage with the community of Dwadwa Primary and it would consider reopening Sakuphumelela SSS as the number of pupils provided by parents yesterday was higher than last reported. —
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