PUPILS CAUSE CHAOS
CHAOS broke out in Delportshoop yesterday as pupils from Dikgatlong High School staged a protest and blocked roads in the Northern Cape town.
Pupils earlier this week stopped all teaching at the school and disrupted classes at other schools. On Tuesday night they embarked on a street protest where they burned tyres and barricaded roads with rocks and broken bottles.
The protesting pupils are demanding that more teachers be appointed at Dikgatlong High School, claiming that several classes in many subjects “had not taken place since the start of the 2019 academic year”.
The pupils are also furious at the Northern Cape Department of Education’s “complete disregard” to the problem of teacher shortages.
“We are receiving no feedback or intervention from the department regarding the shortage. We are being completely ignored,” the pupils said.
On Tuesday evening the police had to intervene after pupils blocked the R31 at around 6pm.
While the police managed open the road at around 9pm, the road was again closed by about 50 protesting pupils yesterday morning. By about 11am, police again managed to open the road and have been monitoring the situation closely ever since.
Residents meanwhile described the protests as “absolute chaos”.
“There were burning tyres and broken glass everywhere. Pupils were toyi-toying and chanting. It was absolute chaos, with roads being closed and traffic coming to a standstill,” one resident said.
Police spokesperson Captain Sergio Kock confirmed yesterday that the SAPS Public Order Policing unit was called out to the protest, but added that no serious incidents had been reported.
Northern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Lehuma Ntuane yesterday reiterated that principals of all schools in Delportshoop had been instructed to open cases with the police should any property be damaged during the protests by pupils.
Ntuane said earlier this week that the department had given the go-ahead to Dikgatlong High School to appoint two new teachers, with human resources processes to follow.
THERE WERE BURNING TYRES AND BROKEN GLASS EVERYWHERE. PUPILS WERE TOYI-TOYING AND CHANTING. IT WAS ABSOLUTE CHAOS ...