Alexandria school protests over posts
STRUGGLE songs and placards were the order of the day as more than 200 pupils and parents protested outside Alexandria High School in the town yesterday over teacher shortages.
The school, which has more than 350 pupils, has been operating with vacant posts for longer than four years, according to some of the teachers and parents.
Principal Aldworth Meyer said the school was experiencing problems faced by most schools in the province – the filling of teacher posts.
“We have six vacant posts at the school, two of which are promotional posts and these promotional posts will have to be [filled] following procedure,” Meyer said.
Grade 9 pupil Losimphiwe Wanisa, 14, accused Meyer of favouring matriculants over the rest of the pupils in terms of allocating teachers.
“When we arrive at the school, we’re told to sit in the hall, while the matriculants are taught by teachers. I also want to be taught, because I do not want to fail or be a year behind my peers because my school didn’t have enough teachers.”
Parents and pupils sang struggle songs and held placards demanding the principal and school governing body step down, as they felt the school authorities were not meeting the standards for teaching and helping the children with their studies.
One of the parents, Alexandria councillor Charles Metelerkamp, said they had decided at a parents meeting on Tuesday that they would shut down the school until their demands were met by the principal and Education Department.
“As a parent, I don’t want my child to not attend school, but they [pupils] are being sent home by the school because they don’t have enough staff,” he said.
Headgirl Sivuyiseni Jikoko, 18, said she was very concerned about her studies as exams were starting next month and this was an important time for her in her school career.
“We have asked a teacher from a different school to help us with our mathematics. We pay him R50 every month because we want to learn and not fall behind because of this,” she said.
Another parent, Nombuyiselo Seti, said they were worried for their children because exams were around the corner and the children were not learning in classes as they should.
One of the main concerns for parents was that the school should keep their children busy with studies and their minds focused. The parents worried that without this, the children might turn to drugs for entertainment.
Education Department spokesman Loyiso Pulumani said although he appreciated the parents’ concerns and involvement with their children’s education, he condemned any acts against a school.
“I understand parent activism but we have mechanisms for dealing with the department. We have an opendoor policy and parents need to utilise this in order to have their grievances heard.”
Alexandria High matriculant Kerry Agnew, 19, questioned the motive for the protest, saying the teacher shortage had been an issue for a while.
Schoolteacher Bennet Baartman said: “As teachers, we receive strain because we have extra pupils in the classroom and at times the pupils get unruly and the discipline is not upheld.”
After the meeting with the department officials, Meyer said the issue of the vacancies had been resolved to the satisfaction of the parents and pupils.
“I was publicly vindicated by the district director at [Tuesday’s] meeting as he told parents the vacancies were not of my doing but a systemic problem within the [department],” he said.
As for demands by parents that he should step down, he said he had done nothing wrong and there was not any proof of any wrongdoing on his part.
Parents promised to come back and shut down the school every day until they saw the new teachers.
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