Students protest
Learners who arrive late at Crystal Park High School apparently spend the entire day locked up in a small cage, containing garbage, as punishment.
This was among a plethora of grievances contained in a memorandum compiled by the learners, who marched from the police station to the school, on August 6.
“The school starts at 7.45am and those who can’t keep time are locked up in a cage by the principal without water and food,” reads the memorandum.
Learners miss out on school work as a result.
They are also displeased with the teaching system their school offers.
The principal, Frikkie Smith, is said to have installed cameras inside and outside of classrooms.
“Not every educator is happy about this, as they feel they are being watched and, therefore, are not free to teach,” a student leader read from the memorandum.
The learners also complained that, since the school opened in 2008, educators leave the school every term and are replaced.
Furthermore, the school lacks equipment.
“Every time there’s a science experiment, equipment is borrowed from other schools and, at times, we pay to go to a science lab in Johannesburg,” read the memorandum.
Learners added that there is an educator who beats learners and throws “insults about our mothers” at every turn.
Also, the students said, expired food is sold at the school’s tuck shop and, when they complain, the principal threatens to “shut it down for good”.
The students said they have been complaining about these matters to the principal for a long time, to no avail.
“We have drafted a petition in the past, but nothing happened and the school governing body was not helpful either,” read the memorandum.
They threatened to “take the law into their own hands” if the district education department does not sort out their frustrations.
Accepting the memorandum, department of education circuit manager Papi Makola said he views learners’ concerns seriously.
“It encourages me to see you learners fighting for a better education environment,” he said.
“We will investigate and will give you feedback on Tuesday (August 13).”
He appealed to the learners to return to class while their problems are being addressed.
Crystal Park police spokesperson Tryna Maritz said the march was peaceful.
