Angry parents shut down Theresa Park Secondary School in the north of Pretoria on March 4, raising their concerns about “overcrowding, inadequate learning time and severe educational neglect”.

According to the Concerned Parents of Theresa Park, a group formed by the parents, the education department has admitted more learners to the school than available capacity.

The parents claim the construction of the school is incomplete while learners are being educated in container classrooms twice a week on rotation.

They claimed grade 9s attend class once a week and grade 8s twice.

@Lesufi are you aware that Theresa park secondary school, the students are going twice in a week? Meaning 8 days in a month.
Because there are no containers to fit all of them in since January.

— Lee🇿🇦 (@LesegoMorudu) March 4, 2024

Parents picketed outside the school to grab the attention of the department and demand accountability.

They are demanding an investigation and transparency over what they claim is “misallocation of construction funding” by the department.

They called on the department to complete construction as they claim learners are being deprived of their basic right to education and are losing learning time.

“The teachers are under strain and the learners face hygiene challenges due to lack of proper ablutions and running water,” said the parents.

“There are 90 of them in one container – way beyond the acceptable capacity of the structures.”

The angry parents said the department forced the school to admit 1 200 learners in the nine container classrooms at the temporary Amandasig site.

The concerned group of parents have been sending communications to the office of the MEC, but claimed they were not getting any response.

“At a recent parents’ meeting, the SGB produced numerous letters directed to the department that had yielded no results.”

The group said a series of events were being planned, including mass action demonstrations, and calling on the department and the media.

“The parents can no longer afford to leave their homes in the morning leaving their teenagers in bed with no clarity as to what they get to do during the day. This is not only painful to the parents and learners, but it is inhumane and harmfully counterproductive in today’s age and goes against the Constitution.”

Parent Samuel Mtsweni said: “I feel my child is being left behind while they still have to learn under adverse conditions. The department needs to speed up the completion of the school so children can attend full-time and parents can assess the progress of their children. Currently, it’s just cut and paste,” he said.

According to Mtsweni, there are reports that the teachers are also frustrated, as they cannot perform optimally under such conditions.

GDE Spokesperson Steve Mabona said the department was working to address the issue of overcrowding through a relief facility.

“The department acknowledges that the new Theresa Park secondary satellite school will be operating from Monday, March 11.

“All issues raised will be addressed by the relocation team accordingly and the department would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience,” Mabona said.

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