As April draws to a close and pupils begin their preparations for the mid-year examinations, more than 100 pupils from Thamsanqa High School are yet to record a single day of schooling in 2019.
Since the start of the year, 113 pupils from the Kwazakhele school – from grades 8 to 11 – have not picked up a book or had a teacher conduct a lesson, with none of them receiving a first-term report.
Attendance of the pupils and three remaining teachers has been sporadic and none of the pupils have written a test, done homework, or received stationery and textbooks.
The school remains in limbo as to its teacher allocation, premises which are due to be reclaimed by the department of public works, and funding for support materials, after it was earmarked for the department of education’s rationalisation programme, where smaller schools are merged with another school.
Thamsanqa is being absorbed by Sophakama High School in phases – with only 13 matric pupils admitted so far.
As April draws to a close and pupils begin their preparations for the mid-year examinations, more than 100 pupils from Thamsanqa High School are yet to record a single day of schooling in 2019.
Since the start of the year, 113 pupils from the Kwazakhele school – from grades 8 to 11 – have not picked up a book or had a teacher conduct a lesson, with none of them receiving a first-term report.
Attendance of the pupils and the three remaining teachers has been sporadic and none of the pupils has written a test, done any homework, or even received stationery and textbooks.
The school remains in limbo as to its teacher allocation, school premises which are due to be reclaimed by the department of public works, and funding for support materials and the feeding scheme, after it was earmarked for the department of education’s rationalisation and realignment programme – in which smaller schools are merged with another school.
Thamsanqa is being absorbed by Sophakama High School in phases – with only 13 matric pupils admitted so far.
The alleged mismanagement of the move came to a head on Wednesday morning, when Sophakama High acting principal Nokuthembela Mavuso barred Thamsanqa High pupils – including the absorbed matrics – from entering the premises.
Thamsanqa school governing body (SGB) member Vuyani Mzizani said this followed the department’s failure to stick to an agreement to provide a natural science teacher and an additional isiXhosa teacher to cater for the increased pupil allocation.
“The department is the culprit here,” Mzizani said.
“The department has been promising the school teachers since the beginning of the year.
“There has been no effective learning happening for pupils from grade 8 to 11 and as a result there was no report issued at the end of the first term.
“On March 25, we had a meeting with the department and came to a resolution that all grade 10 and 11 pupils would move to Sophakama before the end of the first term and the three teachers would remain to teach grade 8 and 9 – which did not materialise.”
The SGB and parents then decided early in the second term to move all the pupils to Sophakama, which was initially welcomed by Mavuso.
Asked why she had later barred the Thamsanqa pupils from accessing the school, she declined to comment, saying only: “There is no issue between Sophakama and Thamsanqa High School.”
But student representative and matric pupil Sibahle Vusanani said the pupils were very unhappy about the situation and felt demotivated.
“If you miss one day at school you have missed a lot, and the teachers at Sophakama will not want to go back [to redo schoolwork],” she said.
“We are sitting here [at Thamsanqa] idling, doing nothing! We need to pass.
“At the end of the year, the department is expecting results from us – but how can we pass in a situation like this?
“We have to apply at universities – what results are we going to use?”
A frustrated Sibahle, 18, said that at the end of the year people see a failed pupil and not a failed education system.
Nosipho Gqunube, who has a daughter in grade 9, said she was shocked when her daughter walked back home on Thursday morning.
“I was busy with my day-today things when my child walked in,” she said.
“I was upset and left everything as is to come to the school to get some answers.
“In a country that has so many people who fought and died for our children to receive an education, our children are now being violated and victimised and they don’t deserve that.
“Our children are not safe here and cannot be sent up and down when they should be learning.
“The department must deal with this issue as in yesterday, because it has failed this school and its learners so many times.”
Mzizani said the department was stifling the future of pupils and the hope for a better tomorrow for their families.
“As we sit here, there is a message circulating saying that this [Thamsanqa] is no longer a school and that the building is now the property of public works,” he said.
“The electricity and water have been cut.
“On May 6, the matrics are writing [mid-term exams] yet they were sent packing.
“And the worst part is that all the learner materials and nutrition fees have been transferred to Sophakama.
“This morning the kids were at the point of revolt, but we have seen what happened to the Fees Must Fall students and we don’t want that for our kids.”
The parents, however, said they felt the department was pushing them and they would no longer roll with the punches and would mobilise the community.
If the national education department had to intervene, so be it, they said.
Asked about the reclaiming of the Thamsanqa building, public works spokesperson Vuyokazi Mbanjwa said the school had not been handed over to the department yet.
“[However, the public works department] has been informed, in a meeting, of [the education department’s] intention to close the school.
“No written confirmation has been received on the closure of the school yet,” he said.
Provincial education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said that on hearing of the barring of the Thamsanqa pupils, the provincial department had sent a directive for members of both the district department and head office to meet with the Sophakama principal and SGB.
“A meeting between the department heads and Sophakama was held to discuss all the issues and allegations and find a resolution,” Mtima said.
“The recommendations of the meeting will be forwarded to the head office for approval and implementation.”