Don’t forget neglected schools

AS THE migration to Gauteng continues from other provinces and neighbouring states, schools face increasing pressure to accommodate pupils and offer them a decent environment to study.

In metropolitan areas such as Tshwane, in particular, demand has for years outstripped classroom space, as was experienced at the start of this school year when nearly 32 000 Grade 1 and Grade 8 pupils were left waiting for desks well after the first classes had begun.

The province announced it was building new schools, which would have the facilities required for learners to enjoy quality education.

At the same time it set aside a budget to rehabilitate ailing and depressed schools, many of them dating back to apartheid and the Bantu education system.

This week, we reported that Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, accompanied by Housing MEC Jacob Mamabolo, handed over the keys to Sinenhlanhla Primary School in Rethabiseng, Bronkhorstspruit.

There’s nothing quite like being in the first intake of a brand new school, as was expressed by one child in a poem of gratitude to Lesufi, and we wish this new school family every happiness and success.

But on the same page there was a news report about parents being unhappy that things have not improved at their children’s school, Padisago Primary School in Soshanguve, which they claim is dangerous, with holes in the floor and thick dust everywhere.

Aside from the budget for new schools, such as in Rethabiseng, Ga-Rankuwa Primary and Nellmapius Primary and Secondary schools, east of Pretoria, there is provision to rehabilitate the infrastructure of old schools.

This has been recognised in the minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure, published in 2013, and it is vital that it happens.

While we celebrate the achievement and excitement of a new school, we urge authorities not to allow schools like Padisago to be forgotten.