Durban - Parents of pupils attending Corinth Primary School in uMzimkhulu, southern KwaZulu-Natal, have raised concerns about their children’s education after the school was damaged in a freak storm in January.
The parents said their children have been forced to stay at home after the ceilings of classrooms, and the roof of the buildings had been badly damaged.
They said no teaching and learning took place during the second term. There are 419 pupils registered at the school.
Nowethu Dlamini, the spokesperson for the school governing body, said that they had made numerous pleas and had written letters to the KZN Education Department.
She said the department did provide 10 temporary mobile classrooms, but this did not cover the entire school population. Therefore, a decision was taken by the parents to suspend lessons until the school could accommodate all the pupils.
She added that due to no learning taking place during the second term, there had been no exams, and the reports would not be issued this week when the term ends.
“Some of these children have to go to high school next year, and we know the importance of the second term reports. Unfortunately, we do not have progress reports for this term,’’ she said.
A parent, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said that she was worried about how she would apply for her child to go to high school as he was in Grade 7.
“This is a huge setback as I won’t have the second term report to apply for space, so I am worried about my child’s education,” she said.
Nomarashiya Caluza, South African Democratic Teachers’ Union spokesperson, said that it was the department’s responsibility to ensure that teaching and learning was not disrupted, and the union hoped that the matter would be attended to.
Mbusi Ngubane, the spokesperson for the National Teachers’ Union, said that they were worried that the department had taken so long to respond to the matter.
“It’s disheartening to hear that pupils have been unable to go to school, and we hope this matter is attended to as soon as possible,” he said.
DA KZN spokesperson on Education Dr Imran Keeka said the party had written to MEC Mbali Frazer to enquire about the problems at the school.
He said the school had been promised 18 mobile classes.
Muzi Mahlambi, a spokesperson for the KZN Department of Education, said the matter was receiving attention.
