Unqualified teachers, a building on the verge of collapse and a one-member school governing body are just some of the problems being faced by the Reuben Birin School for the Hearing Impaired in Port Elizabeth.
The school is still trying to recover from the loss of 12 classrooms in a fire on April 3.
The damage is estimated at more than R100m.
The situation came to light on Monday when Eastern Cape education department superintendent-general Themba Kojana and other stakeholders visited the school and were told by a public works department official that the school was a disaster.
Its 140 pupils, who have various disabilities, have to share a single unhygienic ablution block.
At a meeting at the school in Algoa Park on Monday, Kojana said there was something seriously wrong with the functioning of the school.
Empty boxes of tablet computers and heaps of exercise books that had not been used were found in one of the burnt classrooms.
Kojana acknowledged that the department did not have the money to rebuild the two damaged wings of the school.
He said funds would be released only if the school head and governing body could assure him that there would be no more burning of school property.
“Millions of rands were put [into building] this school – people had a vision.
“Now I must ask myself as the accounting officer, ‘Am I to abandon that vision?’
“I don’t want to put state resources into an environment that I know is not going to be fruitful.
“The burning of the school is just a symptom.
“We need to establish why [it happened],” Kojana said.
“An in-depth investigation must be conducted because it is very strange that the school was burnt the day after the security company was changed.”
The department’s acting chief director for statutory advisory and protocol services, Naledi Mbude, said: “Does the governing body know about the maintenance fund for the school?
“Is the school using the fund appropriately?
“Why are the toilets looking like that when there is a maintenance budget allocated?
“Besides the burnt part, why is the school looking like this?”
Mbude said unqualified teachers held positions at the school.
“We must do an audit of who is teaching here, and how did they get here.
“The problem with special schools is that you have teachers who have never been trained in sign language”.
Parent Nwabisa Mankayi, the sole member of the governing body, said it was not functioning because parents had abandoned their responsibilities as they felt their opinions were not valued.“I am glad the superintendent-general says there is going to be a thorough investigation into the school.“This is my second term and I have found that the frustration of the parents is that we make decisions at meetings but we find that something else is implemented.“The communication between the parents and teachers is very poor and parents feel undermined,” Mankayi said.Public works official Mark Roberts estimated the damage at about R110m.“It’s going to take months and serious planning, maybe even a year, before you can see something happening.“That’s how serious it is.“Both these buildings are not [safe] for human habitation,” Roberts said.“If a southwesterly [wind] or southeaster blows, it will take roof sheets off like a kite and they will kill someone in the community.”The department has cordoned off sections of the burnt and damaged buildings that are considered to be hazardous.A decision on when new safety measures will be implemented will be made within seven working days.Thabiso Phethuka, of the education department’s disability section, said the 2020 target for the introduction of grade 12 would not be reached as a result of the “abnormal” situation at the school.He said the bus driver who ferried the children to school hooted to get their attention during his early morning pickups, even though he should know that they would not be able to hear him.“We are a society that is not requesting integration as a deaf community,” Phethuka said.“We are a society that is part of an inclusive society and we want all role-players who are part of the education system to take it as such.