Lotus Gardens secondary learners yet to be taught

Teaching at Lotus Gardens secondary school has yet to commence although it has been a month since schools reopened.

This is due to safety concerns as some parts of the school’s roof and the principal’s office roof have collapsed.

Learners were turned back on the first day and they have not been taught anything since then.

Some parents and learners have been gathering at the school to demand that alternative ways be found to teach learners because they were losing precious schooling time.

Most of the parents demanded the learners be taught in open spaces like the assembly, corridors and parking lot instead of letting them sit at home.

The parents also raised concerns about the state of the school as some classrooms have no doors and some of the school’s toilets have not been fitted.

The parents claimed that boys and girls at the school have been sharing toilets.

One of the parents, Shahid Ismail, said the school was deemed unfit for learners after the principal’s office roof collapsed during the holidays.

“They only realised on the weekend before the schools were supposed to be reopened that the principal’s roof collapsed. This has been going on for six years; it’s nothing new. It has been left for a while and there has been no maintenance.”

Ismail said he was very disappointed in the school governing board (SGB), the principal and the previous principal.

“I’m also disappointed in the Department of Education because they knew about the situation. The old SGB did make proposals that the school structure was not fit, but nothing was done. It is sad what is happening to our children.”

He said in the four weeks that they have been to the school, it was only on Tuesday they started to see anything happening.

“Something is starting to happen now; the parents are backing us, the construction team is here today, we saw one container passing. We have asked for 50 containers, but they only said they would give us 40. Hopefully, they will keep their promise.”

Another parent, Christinah Nkhasi, said her child is in matric and has not been taught anything since the beginning of the year.

“It is very bad because no one is teaching them. Time will not stop for them, we do not know what to do because every day we are told that the mobile classes have not arrived.

“The children are very stressed at home and we are also stressed. If I could, I would take my daughter to another school; but she is in grade 12 and I can’t move her.”

Nkhasi said her daughter has been the one pushing her to go to school because she fears that the time wasted might hinder her chances of enrolling at university.

She said there has been no communication from the school on how this issue will be resolved.

“There was nothing, they have not called a parents meeting, they never said anything to us. It is only the children that tell us what they have heard. It is not nice for the school not to communicate with us as parents.”

Gauteng Department of Education spokesperson Steve Mabona said a team from infrastructure development has been sent by MEC Panyaza Lesufi to assess the entire school.

“They recommended that mobile units be delivered. They have started with the structures and it is a matter of time before they deliver the units to the school.”

Mabona said they have recommended that grade 12 learners be accommodated in neighbouring schools, but this has not happened because of the ongoing disruptions at the school.

He said when parents disrupt schooling, the consequences are dire because the learners are not in the classroom.

“We want to plead with parents not to disrupt schooling and that they support all mechanisms that the department wants to introduce.”

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