School at Maungani closed for not having 200 learners

The two blocks containing seven classrooms at Hendrick Nthambeleni Secondary School in Maungani village in the Nzhelele area has become a white elephant, following the closure of the school.

With an enrolment of 124 learners from Grades 8-12 and five teachers, the school was closed after merging with Luatame Secondary in Tshituni village on 9 July, when the school reopened after the mid-year examination.

Some parents are not very excited about the latest developments. “All we want is for our children to be taken back to their school premises. This merger is not working. We can’t sit and watch while our children are travelling long distances to attend school every day,” said a parent, Mr Nditsheni Netshiavha. “This merger thing is causing too many problems for our kids.”

Netshiavha said that the government had invested a lot of money in the infrastructure. He appealed to the Department of Education to employ security guards to protect the infrastructure.

Limpopo Department of Education spokesperson Mr Sam Makondo said the closure of the school and movement of the learners would not disrupt the academic programme. He further said it was in the best interests of learners to move them to another school that had enough teachers. A minimum of 200 learners is needed for a school to operate, he said.

Date:27 July 2019

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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