Protest at education building

Angry parents, pupils take further action over shortage of teachers

MORE than 100 pupils and parents protested outside the Port Elizabeth district education department offices yesterday against the lack of Grade 3 teachers at Kwazakhele’s Aaron Gqadu Secondary Primary School.

This comes after they staged a lockout at the school on Friday.

And across town in Greenbushes, there has been no resolution to the racial feud at Kuyga Intermediate School, where parents of Afrikaansspeaking pupils last week handed a memorandum to the district education department, requesting the immediate placement of Afrikaans teachers at the school.

Aaron Gqadu school governing body (SGB) chairwoman Nokuzola Runeli said they were fighting for the 43 Grade 3 pupils who had not had a class since mid-February after the school’s Grade 3 teacher for 10 years was deployed to a school in New Brighton.

“The redeployment took place be- cause they said we have teachers in excess. How can there be excess teachers when each of our teachers is responsible for 40-plus pupils?” Runeli asked.

Another SGB member, parent and teacher, Xolisile Mankeya, said the lockout would continue until the department met their grievances.

“We have been in contact with the department since February. We were promised a new educator when we met with the department on March 14. Today [yesterday] we were promised a new teacher by the end of this week, but I’m not holding my breath.”

Meanwhile, parents of Afrikaans-speaking pupils at Kuyga Intermediate claim principal Vuvu Dubula is mismanaging the school and trying to remove the last few Afrikaans teachers.

Angry parents of mainly the school’s Afrikaansspeaking coloured pupils said they might resort to vandalising the school if the department did not immediately place Afrikaans teachers there.

Dubula has refused to comment on numerous occasions, referring all questions to the district department. District director Nyathi Ntsiko and provincial spokesman Loyiso Pulumani could not be reached for comment yesterday. We were promised a teacher by the end of this week, but I’m not holding my breath