Parents of one of the most run-down Eastern Cape schools, kept going only by the sweat of the community, is outraged that the provincial education boss has issued them with a congratulatory letter upgrading their status to that of an “inclusive school”.
Parents of EN Makaula Junior Primary School in Moyeni village in KwaBacha (Mount Frere) said they have had to endure a decade of education department hot air about a promised new school.
Adding fuel to the fire, superintendent-general Themba Kojana demanded that the school must become more responsible in providing “quality education” to pupils.
In a move displaying a startling disconnect with reality, Kojana praised the school for being identified as one of 60 schools in the province to be declared an inclusive school, which means the school must now admit disabled children.
Dispatch visited the school and found that classrooms are horribly overcrowded. Desks are a rarity and little children were seen sitting hunched on the cold floors taking notes.
This is where 735 pupils must squeeze into 10 classrooms, sometimes as many as 130 per classroom.
While Kojana was waxing lyrical about the school’s great new status, the school governing body said they last received school furniture from his department 20 years ago.
In fact, the school was established in 1991 when villagers built five mud classrooms.
In 2003, local businessman, Lumumba Makaula paid for five more brick classes to be constructed.
On Friday, teachers were seen struggling to walk between the old and broken desks and pupils sitting on the floor.
Four pupils shared small single desks. The rest squatted on the floor or sat on their schoolbags.
“We take turns. If this group sat and wrote on the floor for this week, the other group would sit in the desks the next week,” said a pupil who was sitting on top of his bag with three other pupils.
A Grade 7 pupil said: “We rest our books on each others’ backs. After a while our backs hurt and our hands become numb.”
Teachers have no desks in the class and have to stand throughout. Teachers and the SGB members said they were spending a fortune to keep the walls of the mud classrooms from caving in.The corrugated-iron roof was loose and leaking and if it were not for the maintenance they did, the classrooms would have collapsed years ago, they said.“The roof is held down with cement blocks to prevent it from blowing away,” said SGB chairperson Vivian Mpakama.She said all the department had provided was “empty promises to build us a new school”. Mpakama said sections of the roof had been blown away, many times.“We rely on donations of old broken desks from neighbouring schools,” she said.Mpakama said in 2007, the school was evaluated by the department and found to be occupying an “inappropriate structure” and was earmarked for a new school building.In his triumphant letter in 2018, Kojana stated the school would be provided with additional support in resources and operational support.Attempts to get comment from the SG or MEC Mlungisi Mvoko were unsuccessful.Spokesperson, for the department Malibongwe Mtima said: “We will send a team to the school to ensure the first consignment of school furniture arrives at the school next week.“As for your inquiry on the construction of the new school, I am still waiting for a response from the relevant person.”..