Teaching and learning have been disrupted at two North West schools due to severe damage to the school buildings in recent storms.
The Public Servants’ Association (PSA) said parents in Ganalaagte village are keeping their children at home after Bapong and Logaga primary schools were severely damaged.
Teaching and learning have come to a complete halt as classrooms are unsafe.
The PSA said it was deeply worried about the situation.
“Parents are keeping their children at home out of fear for their physical safety, as the dilapidated and storm-ravaged classrooms have become hazards,” it said.
The union said it was unacceptable that pupils were unable to attend school because of storm damage and a lack of disaster preparedness. It called on the North West premier and the provincial education MEC to treat the matter as an emergency.
The union demanded that a technical team be sent to Ganalaagte to determine the extent of the damage. It also called for emergency learning facilities, such as mobile classrooms or other safe venues, so that teaching could resume as soon as possible.
North West department of education spokesperson Vuyo Mantshule said the department had started gathering information from districts on schools that required infrastructure work.
The department had issued an instruction to all districts to provide lists of schools that needed minor or major repairs, or even rebuilds, said Mantshule. “The department has drawn up a plan to intervene.”
Mantshule said several measures were being put in place, including the appointment of contractors for minor renovations and other work.
“Measures put in place are as follows: appointment for minor renovations; appointment through management contractor; appointment through implementing agencies, public works, the Independent Development Trust and the Development Bank of Southern Africa,” he said.
He added that Logaga Primary School had already been identified as one of the schools that will receive intervention.
Mantshule said many schools in the province had serious infrastructure challenges.
“Most of the schools are in dire situations, and the department continues to intervene with the urgency it requires.”
The union called for an investigation into why the schools were so vulnerable to storm damage despite recurring infrastructure budgets being available.
“The PSA reminds the North West provincial government that ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option when the future of rural learners is at stake,” it said.
It warned that it will continue monitoring the situation and may escalate the matter if the premier and MEC fail to provide a clear timeline for repairs and the return of teaching.
TimesLIVE
Gugulethu Mashinini
www.timeslive.co.za
