Religious leaders and teachers want to restore sanity

Religious leaders, teachers, learner bodies and other stakeholders united over the past week in an effort to call for calm and restore sanity in the Vuwani area.

On 8 May, the Vhembe Pastors Forum took a decision to preach a common sermon on Sunday, denouncing the destruction and looting of school property and the disruption of schooling in Vuwani.

The decision was taken during a crisis meeting held in Louis Trichardt by the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT), SADTU, Professional Teachers Union (PEU), Combined Teacher Unions (CUT), Autonomous Teacher Unions (ATU), National Association of School Governing Bodies, COSAS and the Vhembe Pastors Forum to restore, protect and promote learning and teaching in Vuwani.

“We denounce the destruction and looting of school property and the disruption of schooling. If we do not act, history will judge us harshly,” said forum spokesperson Reverent Dean Alunamutwe Rannditsheni in a combined press release for all the stakeholders.

Lamenting the deplorable situation, Khulekani Skosana of COSAS said: “Every time there are service delivery protests in the country, parents and adults turn learners into collateral damage when they prevent them from attending classes.” This, Skosana said, was always the case even when the grievances in question were unrelated to schooling and education but ended up impacting the learners negatively. “Our constituency is under siege. The burning of schools is tantamount to destroying our future,” Skosana said.

Over the next few days, the collective will be in discussion with the government to explore ways in which the lost school days can be recouped. Part of the proposed solutions will entail organising study camps which, with guaranteed state security, will secure the safety of learners, and making use of church facilities and underutilised government facilities to continue teaching the children.

“We are ready to go back to the classroom and ensure that children recoup the number of school days they have lost. Once safety and normalcy have been restored to the area, we will go the extra mile,” said SADTU’s provincial secretary, Mathome Raphasha. Teacher unions such as the PEU, CUT and ATU are also fully behind the call to go back to the classroom to gain back the lost school days.

Similarly, the collective resolved that parents must release their children to continue preparing for their future. “Parents must not hinder learning and teaching,” the collective said. Closing the meeting, NECT CEO Godwin Khosa said: “Parents, teachers, learners, traditional and religious leaders should stand up for the restoration of learning and teaching, and the safety of the learners.”

As part of its campaign to restore and promote learning and teaching, the collective decided to popularise #TheBurningofSchoolsMustFall. Church leaders in the area have also organised a prayer meeting to be held on 11 May at Levubu Primary school at 10:00.

Date:13 May 2016

By: Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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