The school they forgot
Ditau High poses danger to pupils
Ditau Primary School in Soweto has had no maintenance for over 10 years. The recent rains have seen the school’s ceilings collapse and walls fall apart.
Fallen chalk boards, a hole in the wall linking two classrooms and a collapsed ceiling.
This is the sight that pupils at Ditau Primary School in Orlando East, Soweto, have to contend with daily as they attend lessons.
In addition, four pupils have to share a desk meant for two while teachers had to borrow old chairs from neighbouring schools to save pupils from sitting on tree stumps.
At least 100 pupils out of the 508 at the school have to contend with sitting on broken chairs.
As a result, many of the pupils dread attending classes because of the state of disrepair that their school has fallen into.
The situation at the school and the plight of its pupils has spurred on a group of trainee teachers from the University of Johannesburg into action.
They have been raising funds on social media to help refurbish the institution.
One of the trainee teachers, who asked not to be identified, told Sowetan yesterday that they were concerned about the lives of the teachers and the pupils.
“These buildings can collapse any time, which puts the lives of the pupils at risk.
“Every morning they have to mop the floors before teaching takes place and that delays learning. All we want to do is to help renovate the school to secure their future,” said the teacher.
A 12-year-old Grade 6 pupil said the conditions at the school were depressing.
“We are very sad about our situation and we would like to have proper schools like other schools. The ceiling is falling and the cotton from it is very itchy, making it difficult for us to concentrate in class.
“The chairs are broken and they tear our school uniforms,” said the pupil.
Another pupil, 11, said nothing was working at their school.
“On rainy days the [rain] water flows into our classes. We also have to deal with rats. We would love the MEC [of education Panyaza Lesufi] to build us a new school.”
A teacher said for the past 10 years they had been getting empty promises from the Gauteng department of education.
“It is difficult for these kids to concentrate under these conditions. We no longer know what to do; the department is aware of our situation. There was a time when the ceiling collapsed, but luckily there were no pupils,” she said.
Gauteng education spokesman Steve Mabona did not respond to requests for comment.