Grade 2 learners from Masakhane Primary School in Zandspruit narrowly escaped injuries when a ceiling board collapsed and fell in the classroom during a period on Tuesday, 23 February.
Although none of the little ones were injured, David Mangena, the chairperson of the Zandspruit Youth Forum, told the Northsider that the learners were left traumatised by the incident.
Considering that half of the ceiling board had crashed onto the children’s tables and the floor, questions arose about the structural integrity of the building.
Mangena responded by saying that the school was a workshop facility before 1994, “… but when the people started moving into Zandspruit, the facility was converted into a school.”
However, he did not shy away from the fact that the building was very old, with roofing and ceiling in disrepair.
“The building is very old and its roof is leaking. The ceiling is also a disaster. The school accommodates more than 900 children from Grade 1 to 3, and my observation is the learners aren’t safe,” he cautioned.
Mangena also said the complaint was escalated to the Gauteng Department of Education, which dispatched a team to evaluate the damage and the concerns surrounding the school.
