The third school quarter was a non-starter for Luthuli Primary in Seshego township near Polokwane due to a lack of teachers, school furniture, and textbooks on Monday.
Parents said they did not see the need to send their children to a school running short of much-needed requirements, such as textbooks and teachers.
The public school also had a R500 000 electricity bill, with the school governing body accusing the education department of failing to remedy the situation.
Pupils were lingering in the streets, some standing in the bus station waiting for their daily transport, as the school gates were locked.
The SGB is now appealing to the department to intervene to ensure schooling begins.
SGB chairman Clifford Mohloana said the children would not be returning to the school until the department intervened.
“We are not going to take our children to school, it's useless; there are no teachers, no books, no classrooms,” said Mohloana.
Even if children were sent to school it would be a waste of time because there were no teachers.
“Even if we are to say they must go to school, there are no materials or teachers who will make sure that (the) education of our children continues.”
Children were being subjected to sub-standard teaching and the plea to have the department intervene fell on deaf ears.
“They said we are cry-babies because there are some schools conducting lessons under trees; we must continue without enough class (rooms) and teachers, (but) that’s why we withdrew our children,” added Mohloana.
On the school premises, locked gates and playing pupils were clear signs that no schooling was taking place.
One pupil said they were told to go home and their parents would be informed of the right time to return to school.
The disruptions came amid a textbooks crisis in the province.
Provincial education spokesman Pat Kgomo said the allegations of the Luthuli Primary school closure was being investigated. – Sapa