Francesca Villette
THE oldest high school in Manenberg has received only 30 pupil applications for next year.
And the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has instructed the school to stop further enrolments.
Enrolment at the 45-year-old Silverstream Secondary School has declined steadily, from 1 052 pupils in 2013, to 816 last year, to only 572 this year, acting principal Leslie Pieters said.
The school is situated along the corridor the City has identified for urban renewal as part of its Mayoral Urban Regeneration Programme.
Pieters said gangsterism in the area was the main reason parents were not allowing their children to attend the school.
Silverstream Secondary is located in the heart of Manenberg and surrounded by at least five different gang turfs, Pieters said.
“If I as a parent see that it is not safe to send my child to a school then I will send them to another. Pupils who walked only a few hundred metres to get to the school faced being robbed and assaulted by gangsters,” Pieters said.
Jessica Shelver, Education MEC Debbie Schäfer’s spokesperson, said eight teachers had left the school as a result of the drop in pupil numbers.
“We can confirm that the school has lost eight teaching posts because of declining pupil enrolment at the school. For this reason, our district office has instructed the school not to enrol more learners for 2016,” Shelver said.
Asked what the WCED was doing to improve pupil enrolments at the school, Shelver said parents decide where they want to enrol their children.
The school has also been classified as an under-performing school, with a matric pass rate of less than 60 percent.
The matric pass rate at the end of last year was at 30 percent, down from 69 percent in 2013.
Pieters said the school hoped to double the pass rate this year. .
To make the school more attractive to parents and pupils, it has planned to offer more sporting codes and even driving lessons.
A mother of three, who spoke on condition of anonymity, for fear of victimisation, said while fewer pupils were enrolling in schools in the area, and that this was evident from those seen roaming the streets, parents were responsible for ensuring a school’s functionality.
“People use gangsterism as an excuse, sometimes. I have made sure my three children, from Manenberg, complete school. Parents need to make sure their children are in school, and that they are involved with the school,” she said.
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