Alfonso Arries parents off to district office
Frustrated parents at Alfonso Arries Primary School have vowed to blockade the education district office in Sidwell today after almost a month of no learning at the school.
The Chatty school is in its second week of closure after angry parents brought the school to a complete halt on January 20, blockading the gates and burning tyres on Uitenhage Road as they vowed to keep the school closed until their demands were met.
They relented a week later, before closing the school again on Monday last week.
Angry parents of the 763 children on the school’s waiting list said there were no other accessible schools for their children to attend.
A list of demands submitted to the Department of Education on January 20 included:
22 more classrooms and teachers;
Toilet facilities; and
The construction of two primary schools and a high school for the area, to start immediately.
Although the school lacks adequate infrastructure, robust meetings between the school governing body and parents led to the enrolment of the 763 waiting list pupils.
On opening this year, the school had 1 253 pupils enrolled but had room for only 1 200.
With the 763 extra pupils, the number now stands at 2 016.
Alfonso Arries principal Andile Lucwaba said he worried that pupils were running out of time as the term ends in April.
While the closure meant that no learning took place, he said, the overcrowded classrooms posed a health risk.
From 8am yesterday, about 80 parents discussed a way forward at the locked school gate.
Parents’ spokesman Sandile Vavika, who has three children at the school, said parents were frustrated with the department.
“The department keeps saying they hear us, but no one from the department has come here [in the past] three weeks.”
Vaviki said the officials they met at the district office had said they would never set foot in the school.
Education spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said he could not comment as a meeting was under way.
However, Lucwaba said no meeting had taken place.
