PARENTS of learners at Tivanani Primary School in Jimmy Jones village outside Malamulele are unhappy with the department of education.
They claim the department is taking too long to fix problems at the school even though they are fully aware of the situation.
Last year half of the school’s roof was blown away by a storm and the damage has still not been repaired. Temporary classrooms have not been provided either.
“It’s painful to watch the learners that are affected by this situation. We are forced to put all the learners in one classroom, which makes it difficult to give them the attention they need,” one teacher said.
“During the first quarter of this year, our gr. 3 learners failed dismally, and only 36% of learners managed to pass,” he said.
The teacher also said that the problem had been reported to the department but to no avail.
School governing body chairperson, Stan Mabasa, said parents were angry that their children were subjected to conditions that were not conducive to learning while the department watched and did nothing.
“We fear for the quality of our children’s education because this is going to impact their final exams,” he said. He renewed his plea to the department, saying “please help us before it’s too late”.
Education spokesperson, Jack Mokobi, said the department was busy with repairs of damaged schools throughout the province.
“The department is currently busy with repairs on all the storm damaged schools around the province. Of course we might not cover all the affected schools by the end of this financial year, since we depend on limited financial resources,” he said.
“We are, however, definitely going to repair all the affected schools including the one in Jimmy Jones village,” he said.
