Look after new school from day one

I was very pleased to read about the transformed school at Tentergate in The Rep dated April 23, offering new hope and potential to many.

I was equally pleased to read about the effort to revamp the Chris Hani Hexagon.

As far as the school goes, we hope and pray that in five to 10 years’ time we don’t have to read in this newspaper that it has fallen into disrepair and vandals have stolen computers and furnishings. Parents, the education department, pupils and teachers must take ownership of this wonderful opportunity and maintain the buildings from the very start.

If a door hinge breaks, fix it immediately. The same goes for toilets and windows and if the department, through public works, shows disinterest as it so often does in the maintenance of schools, then parents and those associated with the school must band together and do the smaller things themselves and agitate to have the bigger maintenance issues attended to by the relevant authorities.

Working together will ensure the long-term success of the school, otherwise it will become an underutilised white elephant, like so many other institutions that held so much promise to begin with, but ended in collapse.

As for the revamp of the Hexagon, I think it would be a far better idea to start with fixing the perimeter wall and lamps and streetlights which have not been maintained for 20 years.

Then the painting can follow. Painting the fountain is just cosmetic. Fixing the lights and walls will be real.