Lisa Isaacs
IT’S all systems go for the opening of a Dunoon school on Monday, as the provincial education department moves in furniture, desks and chairs today.
The previously disused temporary school had been the centre of controversy recently after parents of Dunoon pupils protested last month outside the Dunoon facility, which they had invaded.
The parents said more than 100 pupils in the area had not been placed in formal schools, despite it being more than halfway through the academic year.
The land on which the school stands had previously been leased by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) from the City to accommodate pupils while the new Sophakama Primary School was being built.
There are 35 mobile classrooms at the site. When construction of the school was completed, the Sophakama pupils moved to the school and the mobile classrooms stayed empty.
Parents then invaded the unused temporary school and demanded their children be registered at schools in the area. The department recently announced that formal schooling will begin at the vacant facility by the end of this week. Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said officials on Wednesday met with parent representatives to discuss the way forward with the 113 verified pupils needing to be placed in school.
“It was agreed that the pupils would be accommodated at the vacated mobile school as a temporary school, which will be managed by the WCED Metro North Education District until the end of the fourth term.
“And a temporary governing body will be appointed,” she said.
Schäfer added that the department had allocated four new teaching posts and due process would be followed in appointing the teachers for that school.
“By agreement, they will be contract positions until the end of December 2015,” she said.
Furniture, desks, chairs and learning and teaching support material were installed yesterday and today. The mobile buildings will be cleaned, with tuition due to start on Monday.
Pupils will also be assessed and evaluated, and suitable catch-up programmes and intensive support provided, Schäfer said.
Sherylle Dass of the Equal Education Law Centre said the department had given parents what they wanted from the get-go, which included the independent running of the school, as they refused to be attached to Sophakama and its staff.
“We welcome the decision that the department has engaged with the community and reached an amicable solution to the issue.
“Our foremost mandate was to ensure pupils have access to education, it opens the door for a future,” she said.
Dass added that Equal Education would monitor the situation and the operation of the school on Monday.
Schäfer said the department was committed to providing the best quality education possible.
“I am glad that we have been able to reach an amicable solution, and hope we can now move forward in the interests of our learners,” she added.