Schools grapple with material shortages, dilapidated buildings and heavy rains on first day back
The lack of learning material for pupils, unfinished school buildings, children not yet being placed in schools and heavy rainfall across the country has hampered the first day of school for thousands of learners, teachers and parents.
Parents in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng had to battle heavy downpours on the way to school on Wednesday, with the weather becoming so bad that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education issued a directive to principals to close schools early.
“According to the South African Weather Service, KZN is likely to experience heavy rainfall in the afternoon on Wednesday. As such, all principals are directed to release learners by 1pm. In the event that rain falls before the stipulated time, principals must exercise their discretions in line with department guidelines,” the directive said.
While there were no major issues reported, Baxolile Nodada, the DA spokesman for Education said that oversight visits revealed that the rebuild of Nancefield Primary School and Kliptown Secondary school in the Eldorado Park area were still not complete, despite work starting at the schools in 2018.
Construction at Nancefield Primary School stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic and never resumed, Nodada said.
Despite significant funds being allocated, students are still confined to temporary, substandard classrooms, and there's no clear timeline for the school's completion.
“This situation poses a serious hindrance to the learning environment,” he said.
Additionally, Kliptown Secondary School in the area is still utilising asbestos infrastructure, a known health hazard.
Learners are confined to prefab structures with up to 50 children in a class.
Another school visited by Nodada was the Parkdale Primary School which he described as dilapidated. He said the school was flooded after rains on Tuesday.
“All of that school is made of asbestos infrastructure except one block... it is poorly maintained and the building is falling on children,” he said.
Nodada also raised concerns about the broader provincial issues, such as the Eastern Cape and Limpopo's challenges in delivering learning materials to schools.
“I'm worried about the non-delivery of learning material, because this will have a massive impact on the performance of those children,” he said.
Thirona Moodley, the CEO of the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa), said they had deep concerns over the state of the education system.
Moodley said Naptosa had been overwhelmed with complaints from school principals about the dire situation in schools.
A key issue highlighted is the failure of the Department of Education to disburse necessary funds to schools.
This has led to a significant delay in the acquisition of learning materials for the 2024 academic year. As a result, many schools have not received the teaching and learning materials required, potentially crippling educational activities from the very first day.
Adding to the distress, schools have reportedly only received a fraction of the funds due to them as of January 16. The situation has become so dire that some school principals have had to use personal funds to keep their schools operational.
“Naptosa is fed-up with a department that fails to fulfil its constitutional responsibility, to provide quality basic education to all. School principals are at the receiving end of a dysfunctional department and learners are innocent victims,” she said.
Moodley noted that severe weather conditions during the holidays have caused substantial damage to schools, exacerbating the situation.
Schools have also become targets for criminal activities, suffering losses of furniture, window frames, doors, and electronic equipment stolen by people in the community.
In addition, there were several reports of hundreds of children not yet being placed in schools, due to parents moving cities and provinces, or due to them making late applications.
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