Roofless primary school a concern to teachers and community

MABOCHA – Four classrooms of Mokobola Primary School have been left roofless after a devastating storm in the region during the past week.

The principal is relieved it happened at night as they could have injured the learners.

The school authorities said they had applied for a new building five years ago but no one bothered to respond. For years the school relied on poorly constructed classrooms that were built by community members back in 1972.

Because of the inferior quality of the materials used, and the semi-skilled builders, the school is now in a dilapidated state. The grade four to seven learners are affected; about 88 of them are squeezed into one classroom.

Mokobola has previously produced academics ranging from doctors, engineers and accountants but the infrastructure of the school and standard of education deteriorated recently due to lack of attention from the provincial department of education. Learners are forced to use the roofless classrooms and have to sit on broken chairs. There is also no laboratory or library.

According to the teachers at the school, the conditions make the school lose learners yearly.

“The conditions are not conducive to any proper learning, when we think of coming to work, our hearts become sore, as we know we are risking our lives. I was almost hit by a falling brick while teaching.We are just doing it for the love of the kids and the community,” said Ms Modjadji Nkgabang, a teacher at the school.

She estimated that a quarter of the learners are leaving the school because of the state of the classrooms.

A villager, Mr Paulus Mafane said the wall of the structure had also developed cracks, “The school looks like an abandoned shed, the classrooms had become the nesting place for insects and birds, but with no alternative the learners are forced to write exams in these conditions,” he said.

Ironically, Mafane was still a learner when community members donated bricks to build the school in the early 1970s.

The principal of the school, Ms Mohube Dibakwane and SGB members begged the government to build them new school.

“The school can’t be revamped, we just need new classrooms. We have seen other schools in our area getting assistance but our plight is being ignored,” they said.

The SGB members said they had written to the district and provincial department on several occasions with no luck. “They just keep on promising, we were promised temporary classes but they were never delivered because the department was still under administration, but now that is in the past, we still have not received new classes, added Ms Ester Mafane, a SGB member.

The school asked for good Samaritans and businessmen to help them in transporting temporary classes to the school. Those who want to help can contact the principal on 082-429-9348 or Mafane on 072 111 3219.

The Sekhukhune district’s department of education confirmed they had received pictures depicting the dire situation at the school which they have forwarded to the provincial department.

Spokesman for the Limpope Department of Education, Mr Phuti Seloba, seemed clueless about the matter, but urged the school to report the matter at provincial level.

“I can’t comment for now,as the school has to follow a procedure in raising their dissatisfaction. They need to bring their problems to the department, not the media,” he said.