DURBAN: Teaching and learning briefly came to a halt at Sivananda Comprehensive High School, in KwaMashu, on Tuesday when parents locked the school gates.
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi confirmed the incident.
“There was a disturbance at the school on Tuesday morning, where the parents had locked the school, demanding the resignation of the school principal,” said Mahlambi.
The parents, he added, had raised a number of complaints against the school including alleged mismanagement and corruption, and a decline in the culture of teaching and learning which resulted in a decline of matric results.
He said a local circuit manager had swiftly attended to the aggrieved parents, and this resulted in the school resuming classes before the end of the day.
Governing body foundation chief executive and spokesperson Anthea Caresto expressed her disappointment with the parents’ action.
“We have already lost a lot of time because of Covid-19 restrictions and people should be mindful of the fact that pupils do not have a lot of time on their hands before the end of the year exams,” said Caresto.
She appealed to aggrieved parents to approach the school’s governing body and said, if that was not successful, they could approach the Department of Education’s district offices for assistance.
“Locking the school is simply unacceptable because it amounts to condemning children to an uncertain future,” she continued.
She also noted that action of locking schools was a common feature from unhappy parents, and that this was sometimes based on unfounded allegations. Caresto appealed for pupils’ interests to be placed above everything else.
THE MERCURY