Matric learners suffer due to delay in registering school
Pushing a minibus out of the mud is the last thing matric learners want to do before writing their all-important final exams.
But the matric learners of Highlands High School in Aloe Ridge had to do just that on Monday November 22.
If they didn’t, they faced the possibility of missing their exam altogether. The Bogwasha circuit management of the Limpopo Department of Education agreed that the learners could start writing after the appointed time.
“The students were not only tired physically after their ordeal, but they were also covered in mud and were mentally strained. We were in this predicament because the children need to travel to Mashakwaneng High School every day to write their exams. The Limpopo Department of Education has delayed classifying our school as an examination centre,” said Highlands High School director, Fatima Mahomed.
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According to the headmaster of Highlands High School, Veronica Ramashala, the minibus that transported the matrics had a puncture and nearly toppled over into a ravine the previous week. Mahomed said being stuck in the mud is the least of the school’s problems.
The matrics have been forced to write their exams at three different locations since 2019 after applying for the high school to be a National Senior Certificate Examination Centre in February of 2016.
“Our school was inspected by Umalusi during a site visit on October 13. The department promised to fast-track the school in qualifying as a National Senior Certificate Examination Centre this year. It has been delaying the registration for 44 months. In 2019 the education department promised that our school will be inspected by January 2020. Now we are at the end of 2021,” said Mahomed.
“Our school opened in 2015. In 2019 we had our first matrics. In 2020 we had 390 learners and this year only 200 enrolled. We strongly believe that parents are afraid their children won’t be able to write their final exams here and that is why we are losing learners,” said Mahomed.
The registration of the school as an examination centre has been a point of contention and is now in litigation between the school and the department. “We had our first meeting with the department in the office of the deputy director-general on April 16 in Polokwane. I wrote to the deputy director-general on October 29 after Umlasi’s site visit. I was again informed that the learners would not be able to write at the school this year. No other department in our country works in this delayed manner. It is causing irreparable damage to the school and I would like to hold it accountable,” said Mahomed.
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She provided evidence to the paper of the application for school registration that she found lying in an office at the Department of Education in Limpopo in September this year. The department told her at the time that it never received the application to register the school and Mahomed was forced to redo everything from scratch.
“The files were lying on a shelf in their offices. They did not find the time to throw away evidence that could implicate them. This is not neglect or missing files, but a deliberate attempt to eventually force the shut down of the school. This has caused enormous emotional stress as well as serious financial losses for the school. It is the reason behind the low enrolment of new learners and we cannot sustain salaries and almost had to shut down,” said Mahomed.
The Department of Education in Limpopo did not respond by the time going to print.
