Pupils in Mfuleni still stuck – no class

NO PROGRESS has been made in getting hundreds of Mfuleni children of placed in schools.

Nine days into the new school term, the children are camping at the local community hall, local Methodist church hall and at the old clinic buildings.

The children who are supposed to be starting Grade R, are being taught by unemployed parents.

The parents said they were trying their best, but it was difficult to teach children in high school grades.

Mfuleni community member and parent Nonyaniso Mvango, mother of 13-year-old Simanye, said the children were attending classes daily; some dressed in uniform and others still in need of school shoes and other school clothes.

“There has been no improvement in getting them at proper schools and the Education Department has still not got back to us. This is very frustrating for us parents and the children as well,” she said.

Mvango said a nearby high school was helping by providing them with lunch through its feeding scheme programme.

Community leader Sipho Delana said residents were angry with the department.

“We need a proper action plan from the department. We as parents are even thinking of creating a platoon system where the Grade R class finishes at 1pm then a high school class can start from 1pm to 5pm or something. But we are yet to speak to the teachers and principals.”

Jessica Shelver, spokesperson for Education MEC Debbie Schäfer, said she would be meeting with all stakeholders from Mfuleni.

Shelver said the department had established learner placement task teams in every district.

“We are experiencing a number of the challenges in some schools that are experiencing high growth in pupils numbers and large class sizes… The department keeps an allocation of educator posts separate to those that were distributed previously, to accommodate unexpected growth”.