A rural school in a poverty-stricken Tsolo village has resorted to circulating letters asking for donations to buy school shoes and uniforms for its pupils.Some of the pupils in Lower Esinxaku Junior Secondary School are orphans.
Children’s social grants are used to buy groceries for their families.
The only source of income for the majority of residents in the area is helping neighbours plant vegetable gardens or filling potholes on dirt roads.
Parent Nozamikhaya Nunu has four children at the school and cannot afford to buy full uniforms for all in one go.
The widowed Nunu said she earned about R900 in social grants for three of the children, and earns R600 filling potholes as part of the expanded public works programme.
“I cannot buy everything at once, but I have to buy one item at a time. In one month I will save money to buy a skirt or grey pants, but there will be no money for shoes.
“Even food, I buy in small portions. My eldest son is in college and I have to send him more than R500 for rent only, let alone food,” she said.
Another unemployed parent, Phindiwe Batyi, said her husband depended on piecemeal jobs to survive.
Batyi said she was forced to send her 16-year-old son to her mother who lives in Cape Town due to her “suffering”.
“My child has no uniform. We depend on second-hand clothes from relatives to cover our bodies. I really want my child to look like others because by her being educated is our only way out of poverty,” Batyi said.
School governing body chairwoman Nokhaya Mtitshana said they acknowledged the parents’ predicament.
“Food is a priority for any human being. You can forsake everything else but food is most needed,” she said.
The school first started issuing letters on August 17 to anyone able to assist. The campaign is being run by volunteers of the school’s “learner support team”.
The letter lists the names of 45 pupils between the ages of five and 18 in desperate need of assistance.
“The abovementioned school humbly requests donations of clothing and/or uniform for the pupils of our school. We have vulnerable children who do not even get government grants,” the letter stated.
Mtitshana said they felt “sidelined” due to lack of government services, including new school buildings and called for government intervention.
“We feel like we are at the tail-end of delivery. We are eating the bread crumbs because when you go out to cities, you find facebrick schools. Can you see any of those around here?” she said.
School principal Linda Qhayiyana said lack of uniforms for pupils was not the only headache for teachers due to poor infrastructure and vandals breaking windows.
Lower Esinxaku JSS has not received any major upgrades since it was built by the community and teachers during the early 1980s, despite promises by the government.
She said adding to the decay of the school building, local farmers also use the school to accommodate their livestock.
“When we come back from holidays or weekends we find goats and cows inside classrooms. The droppings cause a big stink.”
lTo assist the school, call Qhayiyana on 073-934-6911 or Zolani Mbizo on 078-716-4548. — loyisom@dispatch.co.za
Rural school seeks donations for uniforms
Some of the pupils in Lower Esinxaku Junior Secondary School are orphans.
Children’s social grants are used to buy groceries for their families.
The only source of income for the majority of residents in the area is helping neighbours plant vegetable gardens or filling potholes on dirt roads.
Parent Nozamikhaya Nunu has four children at the school and cannot afford to buy full uniforms for all in one go.
The widowed Nunu said she earned about R900 in social grants for three of the children, and earns R600 filling potholes as part of the expanded public works programme.
“I cannot buy everything at once, but I have to buy one item at a time. In one month I will save money to buy a skirt or grey pants, but there will be no money for shoes.
“Even food, I buy in small portions. My eldest son is in college and I have to send him more than R500 for rent only, let alone food,” she said.
Another unemployed parent, Phindiwe Batyi, said her husband depended on piecemeal jobs to survive.
Batyi said she was forced to send her 16-year-old son to her mother who lives in Cape Town due to her “suffering”.
“My child has no uniform. We depend on second-hand clothes from relatives to cover our bodies. I really want my child to look like others because by her being educated is our only way out of poverty,” Batyi said.
School governing body chairwoman Nokhaya Mtitshana said they acknowledged the parents’ predicament.
“Food is a priority for any human being. You can forsake everything else but food is most needed,” she said.
The school first started issuing letters on August 17 to anyone able to assist. The campaign is being run by volunteers of the school’s “learner support team”.
The letter lists the names of 45 pupils between the ages of five and 18 in desperate need of assistance.
“The abovementioned school humbly requests donations of clothing and/or uniform for the pupils of our school. We have vulnerable children who do not even get government grants,” the letter stated.
Mtitshana said they felt “sidelined” due to lack of government services, including new school buildings and called for government intervention.
“We feel like we are at the tail-end of delivery. We are eating the bread crumbs because when you go out to cities, you find facebrick schools. Can you see any of those around here?” she said.
School principal Linda Qhayiyana said lack of uniforms for pupils was not the only headache for teachers due to poor infrastructure and vandals breaking windows.
Lower Esinxaku JSS has not received any major upgrades since it was built by the community and teachers during the early 1980s, despite promises by the government.
She said adding to the decay of the school building, local farmers also use the school to accommodate their livestock.
“When we come back from holidays or weekends we find goats and cows inside classrooms. The droppings cause a big stink.”
lTo assist the school, call Qhayiyana on 073-934-6911 or Zolani Mbizo on 078-716-4548. — loyisom@dispatch.co.za
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