Pupils leave unsafe school

THE pupils from a snake-infested, dilapidated Dundee school have started the new term at new premises.

Dundee Junior Secondary School, which was mainly prefabricated classrooms installed decades ago, now stands empty, ready for demolition before construction of a new building starts by November.

Education department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said the almost 900 pupils were moved to the department’s Endumeni District offices.

“They were provided 21 new mobile classrooms on the premises, which have 18 toilets and nine offices for the principal and staff,” he said.

The prefabricated classrooms at the old school had been beset with infrastructure problems including gaping holes and falling debris. In one incident, a snake spat on a pupil’s face. The parents protested and pulled their children from school, demanding that classes be held at the district offices until a permanent structure could be built.

This was mere weeks after another child was hospitalised when a pole holding up his classroom’s veranda fell on his head.

Mzwakhe Sithebe, convener of the Endumeni Civic Association which had taken up the matter, said after the last incident, the department had supplied other prefabricated material.

However, these were never put up as they were in a worse condition than what was already there.

“It should not have taken parents protesting and closing the school for the department to act. This really shows that there is a gap between the people in government positions and those they are meant to serve,” said Sithebe.

The department had said the school was already on a list of schools to be prioritised for refurbishment in the current financial year.