Parents, teachers, pupils shut down schools

MORE than 40 schools in Nelson Mandela Bay's northern areas will shut down indefinitely today in protest against the debilitating teacher shortages that have seen pupils go untaught or being crammed into overcrowded classes for the past few years.

Principals have backed parents who are intent on shutting down the schools, saying that the only way to make education officials realise the severity of their problems was to create chaos.

The decision comes after a two-day protest – which started on Monday with a 12km-long picket line along Stanford Road – by principals, teachers and parents fighting against dire teacher shortages plaguing the schools.

Parents, pupils and teachers have been protesting against the ongoing education crisis that has plagued the area and fighting for the filling of the estimated 350 vacant posts.

Protesters said the department had failed by yesterday to give a satisfactory response, which had fuelled their decision to embark on a mass shutdown. - Alvené du Plessis and Zandile Mbabela