Relief for embattled Alfonso Arries pupils
Department delivers on promise of assistance
EMBATTLED Alfonso Arries Primary School has been given a lifeline, with 11 more teachers deployed to the school and an additional nine classrooms which have begun to be delivered.
Four classrooms are already on site along with 600 desks which were delivered to the Chatty school during the course of this week.
The school is also expecting 200 more desks to complete the required 800.
The new classrooms and furniture follow a two-week closure of the school after angry parents halted teaching on January 20 by blockading the gates and demanding that the Department of Education address overcrowding.
The school has a capacity of 1 200, but a recent head count revealed that 2 254 pupils had been admitted.
The school reopened last week after the department agreed to some of the demands made by parents.
Alfonso Arries principal Andile Lucwaba said he hoped the department would continue delivering on its promise so that teaching would not be disrupted any further.
“We are very relieved that most importantly the foundation phase will be accommodated with five of the 11 teachers, and that the pupil to teacher ratio will also improve,” he said.
“Now teachers will be able to give attention to each pupil.
“I am very concerned with the size of the prefab classes in that they might only be able to accommodate 27 pupils, meaning we will still be in the same situation with overcrowding and limited space for movement.
“We can only hope that the department will deliver according to the specific additional needs of the school – such as food, stationery and the budget for these extra learners.”
Lucwaba said he continued to worry that parents would disrupt teaching should their children’s plight be ignored.
Parent Gerald de Bruin – whose three children are in Grades R, 4 and 5 – said parents were happy, but hoped the department would commit itself by entering into a written agreement with them.
“Although we are happy to be seeing progress, we cannot really trust the department because it has let us down before,” he said.
“We will be completely satisfied when all our demands have been met.”
De Bruin said parents would meet a department official from the education district office to discuss a contract.
“We have requested that the department bind itself to its promises because we want to make sure that we are not forced to protest every year,” De Bruin said.
Provincial education spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said the department was committed to honouring its promise.
“We are trying to ensure that teaching and learning in all our schools are not compromised and as such we are honouring all our promises with the hope that the community and teachers will look after government resources,” Mtima said.