Contrasting “back to school” scenes played themselves out yesterday at two East London schools just a few kilometres apart as the 2015 academic year got under way.
While pupils at Floradale Farm Primary School in Nompumelelo were greeted with chaos, pupils attending Beaconhurst Primary School in Beacon Bay were seated in their classrooms and ready to learn by 8am.
A Dispatch team visited both schools yesterday morning. At Floradale pupils were seen mulling about waiting for their class teachers while a long line of parents were trying to finalise their children’s admissions.
When the Dispatch arrived at the school just after 7.30pm fewer than 10 teachers were present and they all declined to comment.
Some of the classrooms were still locked while pupils in other classrooms helped set up their chairs and desks.
Tuliswa Mlenze, a parent applying to have her seven-year-old son placed in Grade 1, said it appeared the deputy principal was in charge of the school.
She said a lack of leadership at the facility was contributing to problems.
School principal Nokuzola Ndabambi has been denied entry to the school since last year, despite a ruling by the Labour Relations Council that she be reinstated. She had been dismissed by the department of education for insubordination.
Mlenze said she had been told her application could not be dealt with this week.
“We waited there for over four hours only to be told we should return on Monday because there wasn’t space at the moment.”
Fundiswa Sigabi said she had been waiting for over half an hour for the Grade 1 teacher of her six-year-old daughter Inako to arrive.
When Sigabi vented her frustration Inako, who was in Grade R at the school last year, remarked: “Sometimes teachers never come to school and sometimes they come really late.”
Inako said she wanted to be a nurse when she was grown up so “I can help people who are sick and make them feel better”.
Dr Nicky Pylman from the University of Fort Hare’s education department said she had attended a class at Floradale last year to observe a university student doing a practical and had never “seen such chaos”.
“The problems there start with overcrowding and lack of leadership, which causes ill-disciplined children.
“All these then cause distressed pupils and demotivated teachers,” said Pylman.
A few kilometres away at Beaconhurst Primary the picture could not have been more different. The children were already in their classes when the Dispatch arrived and Grade 1 teacher Maeve Geddie said the first day had gone smoothly with only one or two tears.
Her pupils were busy playing with educational toys, while in the other Grade 1 class pupils were busy with reading and colouring exercises.
Principal Aubrey Norman said they had finalised all the admissions last year.
“We’ve already started handing out books and stationery and we are spending the day preparing for the swimming gala to be held today,” said Norman. — ziphon@dispatch.co.za
The tale of two contrasting schools - Ready at one, chaos at other
While pupils at Floradale Farm Primary School in Nompumelelo were greeted with chaos, pupils attending Beaconhurst Primary School in Beacon Bay were seated in their classrooms and ready to learn by 8am.
A Dispatch team visited both schools yesterday morning. At Floradale pupils were seen mulling about waiting for their class teachers while a long line of parents were trying to finalise their children’s admissions.
When the Dispatch arrived at the school just after 7.30pm fewer than 10 teachers were present and they all declined to comment.
Some of the classrooms were still locked while pupils in other classrooms helped set up their chairs and desks.
Tuliswa Mlenze, a parent applying to have her seven-year-old son placed in Grade 1, said it appeared the deputy principal was in charge of the school.
She said a lack of leadership at the facility was contributing to problems.
School principal Nokuzola Ndabambi has been denied entry to the school since last year, despite a ruling by the Labour Relations Council that she be reinstated. She had been dismissed by the department of education for insubordination.
Mlenze said she had been told her application could not be dealt with this week.
“We waited there for over four hours only to be told we should return on Monday because there wasn’t space at the moment.”
Fundiswa Sigabi said she had been waiting for over half an hour for the Grade 1 teacher of her six-year-old daughter Inako to arrive.
When Sigabi vented her frustration Inako, who was in Grade R at the school last year, remarked: “Sometimes teachers never come to school and sometimes they come really late.”
Inako said she wanted to be a nurse when she was grown up so “I can help people who are sick and make them feel better”.
Dr Nicky Pylman from the University of Fort Hare’s education department said she had attended a class at Floradale last year to observe a university student doing a practical and had never “seen such chaos”.
“The problems there start with overcrowding and lack of leadership, which causes ill-disciplined children.
“All these then cause distressed pupils and demotivated teachers,” said Pylman.
A few kilometres away at Beaconhurst Primary the picture could not have been more different. The children were already in their classes when the Dispatch arrived and Grade 1 teacher Maeve Geddie said the first day had gone smoothly with only one or two tears.
Her pupils were busy playing with educational toys, while in the other Grade 1 class pupils were busy with reading and colouring exercises.
Principal Aubrey Norman said they had finalised all the admissions last year.
“We’ve already started handing out books and stationery and we are spending the day preparing for the swimming gala to be held today,” said Norman. — ziphon@dispatch.co.za
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