DURBAN - Flood damage to various schools in KwaZulu-Natal will not delay them reopening, says Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu.
He was speaking during a visit to Emzamweni High School, in KwaMnyandu in the uMgungundlovu District yesterday, where he assessed damage caused by a storm at the weekend.
As part of preparations for the smooth commencement of the 2022 academic year, the visit came two days prior to pupils returning to school on January 19.
Mshengu said a task team had been established to ensure that damage to infrastructure is attended to as soon as possible.
“This is one of the schools that was affected by the inclement weather [that] we have been experiencing over the past few weeks in the province. The damage that has been suffered by the school is quite disturbing. Some of the infrastructure has also been severely affected. We will be working closely with the departments within the infrastructure unit and the head office,” he said.
He said the department would have to replace damaged and destroyed textbooks and stationery.
“We don't want a situation where pupils are sent back because of damaged classes, or have no study material, that is why we insist the department ensure the damage is attended to.
“What is comforting is that this damage will not affect the return of pupils expected this week (on Wednesday) because we are still following the rotational timetable. This will give us ample time to procure necessary mobile classrooms to replace the affected classrooms, while we wait for the infrastructure team to rehabilitate those classes,” said Mshengu.
Speaking during an update on school readiness on Friday last week, Mshengu said a total of 186 schools were affected, with 90 of them requiring serious attention and the deployment of mobile classrooms.
Mshengu said: “All of our over 6 000 schools in the province will be ready on the effective [January 19] schooling day... We have done so much work to prepare our schools so that we are able to make sure that on the first day, it is the first day of effective teaching and learning.”
Daily News