The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) asking them to urgently intervene in solving overcrowding issues in some of Mpumalanga schools.
Learners from Sidlamafa Secondary School in KaMhlushwa, Nkomazi Local Municipality, had to be sent home because the Mpumalanga Department of Education failed to deliver mobile classes to the school late last year. See attached pictures.
The mobile classrooms were supposed to be used by 300 Grade 9 learners. According to concerned parents, the school has resorted to rotating Grade 9 and Grade 10 learners weekly due to limited space available there. This is causing learners to miss two weeks of learning each month.
Like Sidlamafa Secondary School, White River Primary and Rob Ferreria High School (in White learners are also experiencing overcrowding and accommodation issues. Currently in White River, there are approximately 40 Grade 1 learners and 70 Grade 8 learners sitting at home as the government failed to make the necessary arrangements to accommodate them.
The Department of Public Works has now started erecting 11 temporary classrooms at the TPA village and the TPA hall which is about 2km away from the main schools in White River. These sites are not conducive to learning as the TPA village has rusted old asbestos buildings and the hall site has no basic services. These learners will be separated from the whole school excluding them from normal activities enjoyed by their peers.
At the same time the department has also started to level an overgrown field below Rob Ferreria to move these temporary schools to. This field also has no basic services. To make matters worse, the government has gone ahead with these changes without any prior public participation.
The DA has been inundated with complaints from parents and various stake holders to assist them as both the Mpumalanga Department of Education as well as Public Works are ignoring the cries of the public in following due process which has led to crisis management.
The DA urges the SAHRC to intervene and prevent this situation from becoming volatile as government continues to ignore the rights of the learners of Mpumalanga.