Johannesburg - A few weeks after calm was restored at Roodepoort Primary School, parents have now accused the Gauteng Education Department of reneging on the agreement to offer catch-up lessons.
On Tuesday, the Davidsonville Community Forum said they were unhappy that the department didn’t offer holiday catch-up programmes to pupils who missed months of school due to disruptions of learning and teaching at the school.
The disruptions followed a dispute over the suitability of the school principal and her two deputies.
The Davidsonville school was reopened last month after a recommendation by a mediation team set up by Gauteng Premier David Makhura.
Earlier, when the department shut down the school, an alternative one was provided, but only a few pupils attended.
The mediation team recommended the pupils attend extra classes during the holidays to catch up on school work.
Community forum spokesman Ronald Dyers said on Tuesday: “No plans were communicated to us in terms of the catch-up plan. The school still ended up on the normal day. The idea was that we must extend the schooling hours and special classes on weekends, but we have seen none of that.”
Education Department spokeswoman Phumla Sekhonyane said an audit of curriculum backlogs was conducted, the catch-up plan was implemented from September 14 and an additional hour of teaching was added to the school day.
“What is at issue now is the holiday lessons for the five days. On this the department engaged both the educators and their unions.
“The view by educators was that the extra hour allocated for catch-up would be sufficient,” she said.
Dyers said the school was now bankrupt and that teachers hired through the school governing body didn’t get paid their salaries on time.
Sekhonyane said the district office was working on resolving the issue of salaries.
Dyers was not impressed: “Don’t challenge us to take matters into our own hands. We have mediation-team agreements, and let us stick to that.
“This is not to outsmart and outplay. This is about building the nation. We feel that government isn’t being sincere in terms of this agreement.”
He said the community would have a meeting on Sunday to decide on a way forward.
The Star