Dias Farm School will not be closed, department pledges

The Eastern Cape department of education has confirmed that it would not be closing Dias Farm School.

Spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani on Thursday said the department was encouraged by the new numbers of pupils signed up at the school.

“I have just spoken to the Nelson Mandela metro district director Ernest Gorgonzola and he has confirmed that the department is not closing the school,” Pulumani said.

He said the verification of small schools was ongoing for those with fewer than 135 pupils.

A primary school needs at least 135 pupils to remain open.

“The head of the rationalisation programme, Zwelinzima Dilima, encouraged the school to go out and encourage more learners to come to the school so that it ultimately falls outside the zone of schools that are under consideration for rationalisation

‘We now have a new, good problem as we don’t have enough tables and stationery’

Renee Hoffman FRIEND OF THE SCHOOL

and realignment,” Pulumani said.

Renee Hoffman, who has been working with the school’s feeder communities, said there were 152 pupils at the Dias Farm School on Thursday.

“We now have a new, good problem as we don’t have enough tables and stationery,” she said.

She said 16 of these children did not have birth certificates. On Wednesday, parents, pupils and grandparents anxiously waited to find out whether or not the school would be closed.

One of the grandmothers fainted on finding out that the school had been sent a letter by a department of education official announcing that the school would be shut down.