Parents split over school closures

Some call for reopening in northern areas

PARENTS demanding that schools in the northern areas reopen after a month-long shutdown yesterday locked horns with parents who refuse to reopen schools until certain demands are met.

The two opposing groups met outside the provincial Department of Education’s district offices in Sidwell.

There were several heated encounters at a meeting called by ANC MPL Christian Martin for parents who wished to see schools reopen immediately.

Martin said there were parents who believed children should return to school while negotiations with the department continued.

But a small group of parents, led by Nationalist Coloured Party regional chairman Marlon Daniels, arrived at the offices and the atmosphere was tense as they gathered around Daniels and Martin.

While Martin is appealing for all 52 schools in the northern areas to reopen immediately, Daniels and another faction of parents support the continued shutdown until the department addresses the shortage of teachers and overcrowded classrooms.

Martin said: “We are all fighting for the same thing. We want schools reopened with a teacher in every classroom; we are just using different vehicles.”

One parent started shouting, while other parents jeered, before there was an appeal for calm and the meeting to proceed.

Later, Martin said he had filed a formal complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission as he believed the shutdown violated the rights of children.

He said he and a group of 30 other parents would remain at the department’s offices until tomorrow, when they would reassess the situation.

“We are going to sleep here in the hall and we invite every parent who wants their child back at school to join us. It is time to move this fight from the northern areas to the department.”

Martin said Daniels had not confronted him.

“It was other parents who came there wanting to attend when they want the schools to remain closed,” he said.

Daniels said: “He [Martin] sent me a direct message inviting me to attend this meeting.

“Then when we arrived here, Christian did not want us to be part of the meeting, so the two of us walked out to talk and more people followed us out.

“He knows my view. He said schools should open but I say not before demands are delivered, so there is a wedge.”

During the meeting, Paterson High School SGB member Wayne Jaggers said: “We cannot allow our children to suffer any longer. The teachers go to school but leave at 10am to go shopping . . . Our kids are in the streets all day.”

Later, acting district director Joy Grobler and labour relations specialist Mphakamisi Hlekani informed parents of the progress made in resolving the demands.

“Out of 143 teachers to be appointed in the PE district, 32 will go to the northern areas . . . We have issued instructions to all principals [that] all staff should be at school,” Grobler said.