Pupils still keen to learn, even under a blistering sun

In 2001 I was among a group of Grade 1 pupils crammed into a dilapidated mud classroom along with Grade 2 pupils.

When my Dispatch colleague, Sikho Ntshobane, told me about the poor condition of Mcheni Primary school earlier this year, I envisioned the school as one of the many that I had written about for four years now.

But my assumption was horrible wrong. The school was far worse than I imagined and its condition kept worsening every time I wrote about it.

I arrived at the school in Tsolo to find the pupils in the same situation I had been in 18 years ago. It hit me hit hard and had me questioning what life was like for pupils, waking up and preparing for the day, knowing they would spend most it outdoors, regardless of the weather.

The story made me sadder and sadder. As I listened I could hear and feel that parents and pupils had lost all hope.

Multiple visits by parents to the local and provincial offices of the department of education went on for years. They were banging on government's doors and no-one was listening.

Parents finally resorted to protesting at the local education offices in Mthatha in May.

Some pupils, while sitting in the stifling heat fanning their hot faces with their textbooks, told me they came to school because they wanted to become teachers, doctors and pilots.

Looking at the school from a distance, one would be forgiven for thinking it is a shelter for animals or a builder's yard.

But these rough shacks are classrooms to 260 pupils. They have been used for years until many finally became uninhabitable.

I spent a day at the school in November, experiencing what it was like to be in the children's shoes. With a temperature at 28ºC on the day, I could barely cope. What was it like in the 30s and heading towards 40º, I wondered?

As I looked at the children's faces, some with runny noses, some seeking shelter from the sun by covering their heads with textbooks and jerseys, and they sang out Our Father Who Art In Heaven, I was struck by their determination, in spite of this systemic oppression. I was inspired by their courage.

This is an unbearable experience that I would never wish for any child. How can a six-year-old, born into a democratic country, endure this. Sprinting down a hill to a dirty river just to quench their thirst?

Without this zeal and hunger for education, would they even bother to come to school?

It was comforting however, to see the passion for teaching from the teachers and equally the pupils looking forward to every lesson.

It took everything in me to put my emotions aside and scribble down the story that subsequently gained international attention.

On the many occasions that I called on the education department regarding the school, I would get different answers from the provincial department of education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima, among them that the matter was sub judice, and temporary structures would be delivered soon.

How soon can this be?

Temporary structures should be up and ready in early January when teachers and pupils return to school.

The saddest fact in this story, however, is that just a few metres away from this daily spectacle of suffering, lies the ruin of a multimillion-rand structure, which failed to launch.

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