DURBAN - THE last mobile classroom for Grade 6 pupils at Inhlazuka Primary School in Richmond was damaged by heavy winds on Saturday.
It had accommodated 28 pupils and was the last standing mobile classroom of three the Department of Education had delivered to the school. The others become non-functional between April and October.
According to a source, the department installed the mobile classrooms temporarily in 2012 after the community demanded that a new school be built.
“The school building has been here since 1910. The community had to intervene and protest in 2012 for the school to get these mobile classes as the building was already old and not safe for the children or teachers.
“It’s been almost 10 years since the department put up these classrooms and promised to come back to build proper classrooms. They promised they would start building in six months in 2012, but to date nothing has been done.
“This is the third class collapsing this year alone, leaving more children with no roof over their heads and no room to study. What is most heartbreaking is that we are dealing with Covid-19 and a lot of children are now forced to share furniture in one tiny classroom which also compromises their health.”
Hlengiwe Mkhize, a member of the school governing body, said they had to place two grades in one classroom to accommodate all the pupils.
“This is very confusing to the children because they easily get distracted and end up focusing on the other class instead of the teacher in front of them.
“Our main challenge is not having a building built for our pupils. We cannot deny that the department assisted with the mobile classrooms, but they were supposed to be for the time being. It was not enough to accommodate our pupils but we made it work because we had hoped the school would be built. This has gone on for far too long,” Mkhize said.
She said they were concerned that teachers and pupils were now exposed to Covid-19 as they could not practise social distancing.
“We have reported and written letters to the district, department, second manager and district infrastructure (team) since 2012 but we are still facing the same problems. We still have no idea why the school is not built. There’s no way that we can social distance as there’s no place at all,” said Mkhize.
Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said the budget cut was one of the main reasons the school was not built as yet.
“We have of budget of R6.3 billion which is not enough to do everything … Inhlazuka Primary is one of the schools which suffers. We have however organised with the district infrastructure team to compile an assessment report of what needs to be done so we can quickly intervene,” said Mahlambi.
He said the department would “quickly intervene” as the pupils’ safety was also compromised.
Daily News