Cape Town - The high court’s decision to close Uitsig High School in Ravensmead was announced as a victory by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED).
The high school was declared unsafe by the department almost two years ago and saw the student governing body (SGB) take the department to court.
“It’s horrendous, I can’t imagine a department that would close a school like Uitsig when it’s the only high school in Uitsig. I support the idea to appeal the decision, I won’t rest until the school is kept open,” said education activist Lionel Adriaan.
Community activist Tony Ehrenreich agreed with Adriaan and said the WCED made the announcement in an attempt to scare the pupils at the school away. Ehrenreich said the department already sent an inspector to the school to tell teachers to vacate their posts. “You can’t move kids at the end of the year, they’re still victimising these kids.”
SGB member Roseline Smith said the school was planning a meeting with parents and their lawyer.
Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said: “It’s my hope that these pupils will not be subjected to any further petty politicking by people or entities who appear to have alternative agendas in mind to what is clearly in the best interests of pupils.”
Schäfer said the real victims in the situation were the pupils who were negatively affected by the school battle, with remaining pupils only achieving a 20% pass rate in the 2017 NSC compared to 70.6% in 2016.
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