Cape Town – Some of the pupils moved to
surrounding schools following
the closure of Uitzig Senior
Secondary last year have had to be moved again as a result of gang and territory-related issues.
Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the
school safety situation deteriorated after the children were moved
and had to cross different
gang areas to get to their new schools.
August marked the end of
the road for Uitzig Senior Secondary, as the highest court in the country dismissed an appeal against MEC Debbie Schäfer’s decision to close it.
After a nearly three-year legal battle, the Constitutional Court found that the appeal had
no reasonable prospect of
success.
The Western Cape Education Department had announced four years ago that it wanted to
close the quintile 1 school in Elsies River that serves some of Cape Town’s poorest children from gang-ridden areas,
due to dwindling pupil numbers,
ongoing vandalism and its dilapidated state.
The move had been opposed by Cosatu and members of the school governing body, but eventually pupils were moved to Ravensmead High school and St Andrews Secondary.
Ehrenreich said that towards the
end of last year about seven
pupils had to be moved to other schools following “tensions”
in class.
The other high schools in
the area were already overcrowded, so Uitzig was an absolute
requirement for the community, he added.
“To overcome the social fabric decline in the area, schools
would have to ensure smaller
class sizes to give pupils more support.
“When schools are overcrowded, educational results
are compromised, so Ravensmead and St Andrews will also
face challenges soon,” Ehrenreich said.
“Out of 15 matrics who went to Ravensmead, 10 passed, and we hope the others will go back and try again.”
While the department said it was not aware of the children being moved, spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said St Andrews took in 22 Grade 8 pupils and 24 Grade 9 pupils.
“Ravensmead accepted 12
Grade 10 pupils and one Grade 11 pupil.
“It must be noted that Ravensmead achieved a pass rate of 82% and St Andrews 71%. Whereas Uitsig achieved 15.4% in 2018,” she said.
“We are therefore pleased that the pupils will receive better education opportunities at their new schools.”