Parents close down MD Ramabulana

The Limpopo Department of Education’s apparent failure to provide furniture and mobile classes prompted parents to shut down the Michael Denga Ramabulana (MDR) High School at Maila Village on Monday.

The school faces a shortage of furniture, due to an overcrowding problem that started way back in 2012. Fed-up parents are now saying that they will allow their children to go back to classes only after mobile classrooms have been made available.

Members of the SAPS were deployed to monitor the situation after the school governing body (SGB) locked the educators and learners out of the buildings, arguing that the classrooms were overcrowded.

The chairperson of the SGB, Thomas Malema, said that they were concerned about the health risks. He said the chronic shortage of furniture and mobile classes at the school was of great concern.

The school has 996 learners and 21 educators, starting from Grade 8 up to 12 “We have applied many times to the department for classes, but our pleas have not yielded any fruits,” he said. Classrooms are supposed to accommodate between 40 and 50 pupils, but they are overflowing with more than 100 learners.

Educators are also finding it difficult to move and write on the chalkboard, due to the space problem. Pupils squash together next to the steel frames of what were once desks. Some use pieces of wood taken from broken desks or anything flat they can find as a surface to put their books on.

“We were told in 2012, when we met with officials of the department in Polokwane, that they would build classes, but they never fulfilled their promise. We want the MEC for Education, Ishmael Kgetjepe, to come down and see these conditions."

Malema said that they felt they had no other option than to withdraw the children for their own safety. “We demand 12 classrooms, an administrative block, a hall, laboratory, library, kitchen, dining hall and a guard room,” he said.

One of the learners, Muofhe Muthambi, who is doing Grade 10, said they were often tired, because they have to stand for long periods while attending classes. She said learners were studying under difficult conditions, citing the temperature in the classrooms as one aspect. She said they also had to put their books on their laps to be able to write.

The principal of the school, Mr Patrick Mabogo, did not want to speak to the press.

The spokesperson for the Department of Education, Dr Naledzani Rasila, said there was a backlog in the department. He said that many schools around the province were running short of classes. “We are in the process of providing mobile classes and furniture to all schools where there is a need, and MDR is one of the schools that have been identified for this project. We are worried about the issue of removing children from the school. Removing children from the classrooms is denying them their future and we strongly condemn that,” he said.

Date:25 January 2016

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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