Durban — Corinth Senior Primary School pupils in Umzimkhulu have not been attending classes for more than two months after parents and members of the School Governing Body (SGB) shut down the school demanding renovations of infrastructure.
SGB chairperson Ntombi Dlamini said that the school’s structure and infrastructure may fall onto the pupils at any given time.
“The area experienced a heavy storm in January that left a huge structural damage to the school.
“Since the beginning of the year pupils have been exposed to sunlight and rain and all kinds of weather.
“In April, parents decided to close the gates with a lock and they woke up every morning to make sure that no pupil or school staff entered the school premises,” said Dlamini.
She said that the SGB had tried everything possible to contact the Department of Education and urge them to assist in repairing the school but they were ignored.
She said the school accommodates more than 429 pupils from Grade-R to Grade 7.
“Parents assume we are lying when we tell them that we have been reporting the issue to the department because nothing tangible is happening and there is no way forward.
“It has even reached a point where parents accused us of colluding with the department since there were no signs that the report reached the officials of the department,” said Dlamini.
She said that another reason that makes them control the school’s gates everyday is because they want to ensure that the construction is accelerated so that the pupils can return to their classrooms.
She further pointed out that the school has been constantly destroyed by storms since 2015.
“After the damage gets repaired, the same thing would happen again.
“In the past years a pupil (died) after a roof had collapsed, which is the main concern for the parents because they do not want the situation to repeat itself,” said Dlamini.
She said the school was only left with only two classrooms and the principal’s office was among the damaged structures.
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education spokesperson Sihle Mlotshwa said the department has called on the district administration to investigate the issue and give a report.
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