More than 700 children are still unable to attend class after two weeks because angry parents have shut down their school.
The acting principal at Nothintsila JSS in rural Ngqeleni, Mawethu Beni, told the Dispatch they were really starting to get worried about the situation, and he appealed to Eastern Cape education bosses to resolve the matter with urgency.
“Two weeks of no schooling will affect these pupils,” he said. They range from grades R to 7.
“Because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the regulations regarding social distancing, we can’t have all the pupils in school at one time.
“They have to come to school in shifts, where we have maybe one grade coming in three times a week and another grade two times a week.
This [closure of the school by the parents] will create a big gap. It is a huge worry because it is delaying the pupils' learning programme
“This [closure of the school by the parents] will create a big gap. It is a huge worry because it is delaying the pupils' learning programme.”
The Dispatch reported this week on how the furious Nothintsila JSS parents had closed the school in protest at a decision by education authorities to move 234 Grade 8 and 9 pupils to Sandi Senior Secondary, in a village nearby, as part of the department's controversial rationalisation programme.
The parents said the move was sprung on them as they only found out about it at the beginning of February, just days before the start of the 2021 academic year.
They told the Dispatch their children would have to walk long and dangerous distances every day to get to school in Ntsundwana village.
Parent Zandisile Yibhana said they were ambushed with transfer letters just a few weeks before schools reopened and, while about 92 of the affected pupils were making an effort to go to Sandi, the rest were stranded at home.
He said authorities had mentioned nothing about scholar transport for the affected pupils.
Beni confirmed that Grade 8 and 9 teachers at Nothintsila had not yet moved to Sandi.
He said this was because authorities had instructed them to ensure that pupils were moved to the new school first.
Their school nutrition budget and their stationery and textbooks were also still with Nothintsila.
But he disputed the parents’ version that they were not notified of the decision to move the Grade 8 and 9 pupils to Sandi until last month.
He said they were notified before the end of the school term last year, and that parents had subsequently written a letter to the school management team rejecting the decision.
But that letter was never sent to its intended recipients, the district education officials who were to oversee the move.
No one is against the rationalisation programme but we are saying they must sort out everything first
He was concerned that, with schools having opened later than normal for the academic year, the closure of the entire school by parents would mean added pressure on pupils to play catch up in their studies.
“No one is against the rationalisation programme but we are saying they must sort out everything first," Beni said.
“Those Grade 8 and 9 pupils will now have to walk through forests to get to school and it’s not safe out there at all.”
Provincial education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said: “The information from the parents is inaccurate. However, the district has instructed officials to listen to parents and use 2021 to prepare thoroughly for rationalisation in 2022.
“The officials are on site as we speak.”
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