A wall in the double-storey Kwadedangendlale Secondary School in Zola, Soweto shakes as a learner pushes it.
This dangerous defect is one of many in the school that has parents up in arms.
Resorting to protest, parents shut down the school on Friday. Learners and teachers were forced to leave early.
“This is our last resort,” said Willie Mabaso, the chairperson of the school governing body’s maintenance committee, as parents sang and a tyre smouldered.
“We’ve been raising the same issue (with the Gauteng Education Eepartment) since 2013. There’s no action.
"Our action has been successful because we have managed to shut down the school. As a plea to be heard, parents have closed the school and told teachers to go home.
"We understand our protest has even drawn (MEC Panyaza) Lesufi’s attention,” Mabaso said.
Cracks in the school’s walls started showing in 2013.
Mabaso said they alerted the department that year.
“They sent engineers. There are now four reports of engineers in the school,” he said, adding all that they got after the studies were empty promises.
“We’ve been getting the same promises since 2013 and nothing happens. Parents are now sick and tired. The school is falling apart. Even our teachers can no longer teach freely,” Mabaso said.
Repairs could cost an estimated R28million, while Kwadedangendlale’s maintenance budget was about R100000 a year.
Another parent, Siphiwe Sibeko, said: “The school is in a bad condition. Our children are in danger here. As you can see with our protest, we decided to rise as parents. We’re tired of empty promises.”
Conditions at the school were terrifying to learners, said Ntsebenzo Majola, who is in matric.
“We fear for our lives because a wall might just collapse over you as you step out of the class.
“We leave home each morning to learn, but the environment we face is scary. We can barely concentrate and that sets us back,” he said.
Kwadedangendlale, which was built in 1994, was known as one of Soweto’s best performing schools. But its pass rate dipped from 93.7% achieved in 2016 to 78.7% last year.
Parents blame the decline on the school’s unsafe environment.
“The performance of our school is now dropping. These conditions are disturbing,” Mabaso said.
“If you can come here in August, I swear you’d run away. The walls and roof shake as the wind blows.”
A total of 188 matrics wrote at Kwadedangendlale last year, indicating it was not a small school. It had 200 matrics in 2015, when it achieved an 86% pass rate.
The school stands as an example of failure by authorities to implement the legally binding norms and standards for school infrastructure, said Mabaso. Adopted in 2013, the regulations make it law that every school have safe classrooms.
Said Mabaso: “We don’t see implementation of norms and standards at our school.”
Reached for comment on Friday, Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabona asked for emailed questions.
He had not responded yesterday.
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