Education department’s plans to eradicate overcrowding at school
“A group of parents closed the school due to concerns of overcrowding.”
The Gauteng Department of Education said it was aware of the closure of Kutumela Molefi primary school by protesting parents.
Parents of learners at the primary school in Lethabong disrupted classes and took their children home for safety because of overcrowding in classrooms.
The angry parents demanded the education department immediately provide the school with mobile classes and enough furniture.
Gauteng education department spokesperson Steve Mabona said while overcrowding is a current reality, the department has attempted to resolve the problem by:
– purchasing land to build a new school
– four mobile classrooms will be moved from another school to Kutumela Molefi
– Grade 7 learners will be relocated in the interim to Boschkop primary school (transport will be provided to the learners)
– funds were given to the schools to build four new classrooms that will be finished in mid-March 2022.
He said the proposal to temporarily relocate Grade 7 learners to another school was rejected by the parents.
“Proposal to relocate Grade 7 learners combined with the additional mobile classroom and the new classrooms that are being built will substantially alleviate but not eliminate overcrowding,” said Mabona.
“Still, the school will continue to struggle to accommodate all learners as the community has grown beyond the carrying capacity of the school.”
Mabona said in the long run, the construction of a new school was the answer to demands for space.
However, this was hampered by the people currently occupying the land.
Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has previously requested the community to negotiate with occupiers living on the land earmarked for the new school to move.
While the department is trying to intervene, the reluctance of the community to agree to the temporary relocation of Grade 7 learners coupled with the occupation of the land present difficult problems.
A parent, Sphiwe Khoza, said the classrooms were overcrowded and didn’t have enough chairs and tables.
“It seems like the school no longer practice Covid-19 rules and regulations and therefore puts our children’s lives in danger.
“The school is overcrowded with more than 50 learners per class from grades R to 7.
“We are afraid that our children might get sick with the virus from these overcrowded classrooms,” said Khoza.
The parents vowed to keep the school closed until the Department of Education take the matter very seriously.
Khoza said the safety of the children comes first.
“We can’t have our children attend classes in classrooms with only a few chairs and tables.”
Another parent, Betty Nkosi, said that the children were forced to share chairs while others had to use tables as chairs.
“Most of the learners come from nearby informal settlements in Lethabong.
“Our children are forced to attend classes the whole day sitting on the floor,” said Nkosi.
“We are looking out for our children and their safety comes first and the issue of overcrowding can only be solved by mobile classrooms,” she added.
Parent Tony Maseko said, “this is not the first time the school experienced overcrowding, even last year we experienced the same issue.”
Mabona further said the department pleaded with the parents to accept the department’s proposal as an interim measure to ensure that the children do not miss any more learning time.
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