The R5-million NoMoscow Primary School in Qunu, built with help from the Mandela family in 2013, was wrecked in a wild storm on Thursday.
Four classrooms, a library, the principal’s office, the Grade R centre and toilets are among the sections flattened.
Learning and teaching have been interrupted at the school which is a stone’s throw from the Madiba family compound.
Pupils and teachers escaped injury by mere minutes as the storm, pushed by gale-force winds, howled through the school just after closing time.
On Friday, the teachers and pupils began moving furniture and other salvageable goods into the remaining classrooms.
School principal Lindile Matyumza said the destruction of the school was a huge blow. “It means we are back to square one. Many pupils have no classrooms. The toilets are destroyed. We are now without four classrooms. I don’t know where we are going to accommodate these pupils come Monday ,” Matyumza said.
He has reported the destruction to the education department. “I hope they will move fast and provide temporary structures.
“I thank God nobody was injured. It happened about 15 minutes after we left school.”
Furniture and books were also damaged.
The school had been a beacon of hope of the village.
It was a donation by the Lyoness Child & Family Foundation in honour of Madiba after the foundation was approached by Mandela’s grandson Mbuso Mandela.
The pledge came a month after the Daily Dispatch reported on the appalling conditions under which the school operated, all within sight of Nelson Mandela’s Qunu home.
Pupils of different grades had been crammed into one classroom while others fought over chairs or borrowed from the pre-school.
It was founded in 1991 by the Qunu community, which built two classrooms. By 2012, there were just five classrooms for 228 pupils. Grades were sharing classrooms and pupils were sitting two or even more to a single chair and desk, while pupils in lower grades remained on their feet for lessons.
There was much joy over the new school, with foundation founder Hubert Freidl saying it was the first school his foundation had built in South Africa.
The school boasted modern technology, eight classrooms, a principal’s office, staffroom, reception office, inside toilets, a Grade R classroom, kitchen, sick room, arts and culture room, IT room, storerooms, a library, enclosed Grade R playground and another playground for the whole school.
But on Friday there was devastation.
A cargo container, filled with books donated by Madiba’s friend former US president Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea, was also damaged.
The school is named after Queen NoMoscow Dalindyebo, the late mother of jailed abaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo.
The school-governing body and Qunu local traditional leader Nokwanele Balizulu called for speedy state intervention to ensure that pupils’ education was not interrupted.
Some houses in Qunu were also affected by the storm and the strong winds, but King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality could not verify how many families were affected by the time of going to print.
Not far from Qunu and also during the Thursday storm, pupils of Mthentu Junior Secondary School were struck by lighting when walking home in Matolweni village. Two died and three were admitted to Mthatha Regional Hospital, as reported in the Saturday Dispatch.
Education department provincial spokesman Loyiso Pulumane promised that they would move with speed to assist the school.
“The department officials to the school on Friday and will dispatch others to conduct an assessment of the damage and ascertain how to intervene decisively.” — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
Learning interrupted as storm wrecks Mandela-inspired school
Four classrooms, a library, the principal’s office, the Grade R centre and toilets are among the sections flattened.
Learning and teaching have been interrupted at the school which is a stone’s throw from the Madiba family compound.
Pupils and teachers escaped injury by mere minutes as the storm, pushed by gale-force winds, howled through the school just after closing time.
On Friday, the teachers and pupils began moving furniture and other salvageable goods into the remaining classrooms.
School principal Lindile Matyumza said the destruction of the school was a huge blow. “It means we are back to square one. Many pupils have no classrooms. The toilets are destroyed. We are now without four classrooms. I don’t know where we are going to accommodate these pupils come Monday ,” Matyumza said.
He has reported the destruction to the education department. “I hope they will move fast and provide temporary structures.
“I thank God nobody was injured. It happened about 15 minutes after we left school.”
Furniture and books were also damaged.
The school had been a beacon of hope of the village.
It was a donation by the Lyoness Child & Family Foundation in honour of Madiba after the foundation was approached by Mandela’s grandson Mbuso Mandela.
The pledge came a month after the Daily Dispatch reported on the appalling conditions under which the school operated, all within sight of Nelson Mandela’s Qunu home.
Pupils of different grades had been crammed into one classroom while others fought over chairs or borrowed from the pre-school.
It was founded in 1991 by the Qunu community, which built two classrooms. By 2012, there were just five classrooms for 228 pupils. Grades were sharing classrooms and pupils were sitting two or even more to a single chair and desk, while pupils in lower grades remained on their feet for lessons.
There was much joy over the new school, with foundation founder Hubert Freidl saying it was the first school his foundation had built in South Africa.
The school boasted modern technology, eight classrooms, a principal’s office, staffroom, reception office, inside toilets, a Grade R classroom, kitchen, sick room, arts and culture room, IT room, storerooms, a library, enclosed Grade R playground and another playground for the whole school.
But on Friday there was devastation.
A cargo container, filled with books donated by Madiba’s friend former US president Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea, was also damaged.
The school is named after Queen NoMoscow Dalindyebo, the late mother of jailed abaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo.
The school-governing body and Qunu local traditional leader Nokwanele Balizulu called for speedy state intervention to ensure that pupils’ education was not interrupted.
Some houses in Qunu were also affected by the storm and the strong winds, but King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality could not verify how many families were affected by the time of going to print.
Not far from Qunu and also during the Thursday storm, pupils of Mthentu Junior Secondary School were struck by lighting when walking home in Matolweni village. Two died and three were admitted to Mthatha Regional Hospital, as reported in the Saturday Dispatch.
Education department provincial spokesman Loyiso Pulumane promised that they would move with speed to assist the school.
“The department officials to the school on Friday and will dispatch others to conduct an assessment of the damage and ascertain how to intervene decisively.” — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
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