Limpopo schools go years without roofs
Several schools in Limpopo have been roofless for a number of years
LIMPOPO – Learning has become difficultlt for learners in several schools in the province, who are forced to learn in roofless classrooms.
Bolobedu, north of Tzaneen
Parents of learners at Makgope Primary School in Mohokgo Block 6 Village have threatened to withdraw their children should the department fail to repair the damage at the school, which was caused by a hail storm four years ago.
This roof was completely destroyed, leaving the school, with only four functional classrooms. Learners are confined to one, sometimes two classrooms when it rains, and one of the three mobile classrooms has also been damaged.
According to the School Governing Body (SGB) chairperson, Mavis Nkuna, one of the four classrooms served as storage for food for the school nutritional programme, and sometimes learners are forced to attend lessons inside.
Nkuna said they have taken up the matter with the Department of Education for intervention, but little has come of it.
Also in Bolobedu
At Molai Jubilee Secondary School, in some spots, ceilings are hanging by a thread and there is a shortage of classrooms.
Eric Maluleke, SGB chairperson, said the school had 450 learners and 12 classrooms, some of which were used as computer and staff rooms.
There are also four mobile classrooms, two of them used as laboratory and a teachers’ office.
The department promised to start construction on a block of classrooms by 31 March, but nothing has come of this promise.
Ga-Tloporo village outside Marble Hall, Sekhukhune
Six years after a storm damaged Mmakola Primary School building, the school is yet to be repaired.
According to the community, several attempts to get the department to help in the predicament were unsuccessful.
Mpho Mogaladi, SGB member, said after the school’s roof was blown away in 2010, the department intervened by only providing five mobile classrooms, three of which a storm also ravaged in December last year.
The school poses serious safety risks. We need a new school. The blocks the storm destroyed in 2010 date back to the early 1950’s.
Only 11 classes and two mobile classrooms are currently in use.
Department of education spokesperson, Naledzani Rasila, said the department recently experienced a lot of damage to schools which in assessment needed R1,5 billion in total to address.
“Working with the available resources, we continue to attend to the damages. In the current financial year, we will increase the pace of delivery,” explained Rasila.
He called on parents to be patient while the problem is receiving attention.
