Some learners in J.B. Marks will be writing their final exams in the dark after their schools failed to pay for electricity.
According to Glenville Fransman, a DA councillor, Promosa Secondary and Potchefstroom Secondary are two of the schools that the municipality has taken action against.
He says the DA will write to the MEC for education, Sello Lehari, requesting him to immediately act and ensure that schools’ water and electricity bills are paid and that their electricity is reconnected. Furthermore, Fransman says the DA will also engage with the premier, Job Mokgoro and ask him to intervene and make sure the power is switched back on.
‘Several parents and stakeholders have asked us to intervene.
‘Our investigation has revealed that some schools have not paid their bills; some have been in the dark for the past two months already.
‘The mismanagement of the North West Department of Education has now resulted in the schools, teachers and learners suffering,’ he said.
At Promosa Secondary School, the matric pupils will have to write their final exams in a dark hall and the school is struggling to print the question papers.
‘It is a scandal that the children, particularly the Grade 12 learners have to cope in an environment that is not conducive to learning,’ he said.
Fransman says part of the challenge is that the cash-strapped J.B. Marks Municipality cannot continue supplying services to schools that don’t pay for them.
He firmly believes the situation is a violation of the learners’ basic human rights as enshrined in South Africa’s Constitution. It stipulates that children have a right to quality education.
The JB Marks municipality and the NW Department of Education did not respond to the Herald media inquiry.
https://www.citizen.co.za/potchefstroom-herald/54394/two-months-without-electricity-sgb-protest-power-cuts-promosa-secondary/
