Angry community in Limpopo reacts to unsanitary conditions
The school, Tours Primary School in Ga-Masoma in the Greater Tzaneen municipality, has now earned a name of “ghost school” because everything at the school is very old.
A pupil at the Winnie Mandela Secondary School runs past closed classrooms inside the school premises as classes resume in the Tembisa township, Ekurhuleni, on June 8, 2020. Grade 7 and grade 12 pupils in South Africa began returning to classrooms on June 8, 2020 after two and a half months of home-schooling to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. (Photo by Michele Spatari / AFP)
An angry community in Limpopo has closed down a school after more than 400 pupils were forced to respond to the call of nature in dilapidated pit toilets without doors, roofs, seats and proper walls.
The school, Tours Primary School in Ga-Masoma in the Greater Tzaneen municipality, has now earned a name of “ghost school” because everything at the school – including classrooms, administration block and toilets – is very old.
MEC for basic education in Limpopo Polley Boshielo said the department was well aware of the situation at Tours Primary School.
“I have completed the recruit-ing process for service providers to provide state-of-the-art sanitation at the school.
“But the process was interrupted by the announcement of the nationwide lockdown. We are just waiting for the announcement of Level 2 so we can appoint the service provider to provide the school with water and sanitation.
“As for the general condition of the school, it is work in progress to rectify all that,” Boshielo told The Citizen.
The classrooms and the administration block are characterised by the stench of urine and faeces as children use them to respond to the call of nature.
The school’s grounds are full of g shrubs and long grass, which parents claim house snakes.
During a visit to the school, principal Mohlago Maake said the situation has not changed since 2013.
“We have for many years asked for new toilets from the provincial department of education but our pleas have always fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
“We hoped things would go back to normal when the department announced that Grade 7 s and 12s would return.
“We thought apart from providing the personal protective equipments, the department would also provide us toilets, wa-ter and other vital logistics.”
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