Over 240 schools have been damaged in KwaZulu-Natal following heavy rains and floods in the province.
When speaking to a Television News broadcaster, the head of the provincial department of education, Nkosinathi Ngcobo, revealed that the number of damaged schools stands at 248 in KZN.
According to Ngcobo, schools in the whole province were affected. However, the eThekwini district remains the most affected area.
“There are various degrees of damage to our schools. Some schools are damaged to the extent they need cleaning, and some are structurally damaged to the extent that they might need Mobile classrooms,” he said.
Yesterday, the KZN Department of Education issued a statement informing the communities and all education stakeholders about the temporary closure of all schools affected by the floods in the province.
“The Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal wishes to inform school communities and all education stakeholders that it has temporarily closed all schools that have been affected by massive flooding of heavy downpours and inflows of water that have been taking place in the last few days in KwaZulu-Natal.”
The department said that all affected schools would be provisionally closed down until Tuesday, April 19, as they continue to monitor the situation across the province.
“In the meantime, we are in the process of developing contingency plans to mitigate the impact of the floods and provide short-term measures while the water hopefully subsides,” said the department.
According to the latest reports, the death toll has risen to 306.
IOL