BOPHELONG – Crumbling walls, leaking roofs, dilapidated mobile classrooms, low water pressure, and flooded playgrounds. These are some of the conditions pupils face at Seeiso Primary School.

Despite a constant call on the Department of Education, the grievances of parents, teachers, and the school governing body continue to fall on deaf ears.

For seven years now, chains of meetings amounting to nothing have been held and commitments made, but to date, the school remains in ruins.

Developed 59 years ago, these headaches seem to grow day by day, leaving children as young as six exposed to a disaster waiting to happen. Speaking to Ster South, the regional secretary of the National Association of School Governing Bodies, Thabiso Radebe, said a commitment was made but never materialised.

“That school is falling apart despite our calls and requests to the department for seven years now to make the school a priority and fix it. We had engagements with the former acting district director and the former principal and a commitment was made that the school will be given a priority, however to date, that has not materialised,” he said.

“The department decided to send mobile classrooms to the school, but due to the crime in the area the community helped itself with cables and now we are sitting with half of the school functioning without electricity,” he added.

Radebe said sanitation at the school is also a problem leaving almost 50 educators and more than 1 000 pupils using less than seven toilets.

“The school has a low water pressure crisis making it hard for pupils and teachers to use the toilets. In a school with 49 educators and other staff members, only two toilets are working properly and have to be shared. With over 1 000 pupils using five toilets, this is a disaster,” he said. Radebe said if things continue in this matter,
they are bound to deal with a disaster.