Africa-Press – South-Africa. The dilapidated bus standing in the schoolyard of Sindawonye Primary School next to the R75 in Coega in the Eastern Cape is in fact a classroom.
The school has 79 pupils from Grade R to 6, too many grades and pupils to teach properly in its two small classrooms, which are made of what appears to be Vibracrete walls, GroundUp reports.
The school has no electricity, no flushing toilets, and depends on a borehole for water.
Sindawonye principal Thobile Nqabeni says:
However, monkeys are on the prowl in the area and often sneak in and snatch unwary pupils’ lunches.
Nqabeni says:
“Of our 79 learners, there are seven who don’t have birth certificates, and neither do their parents… Even though they are not being accommodated for meals (by the school feeding scheme), we feed them. We are now busy assisting them to get these important documents],” Nqabeni says.
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Nomakhuselo Mde is the only other teacher at the school. “I have 14 Grade R learners, 11 Grade 1 learners, 13 Grade 2, and three Grade 3 learners under one roof. Sometimes, when I ask a question to a Grade 3 learner, a Grade 4 learner would answer.
“But we won’t give up, because we want the best out of these farm learners. We don’t want them to be deprived of education because of growing up on farms,” she says.
In response to questions by GroundUp, Eastern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima says a meeting will be held at the school to discuss the way forward.
Petros Majola, from children’s rights and anti-gender-based violence group Khula Community Development Project, says the situation at the school shows that the education department is still far from meeting its goals and standards for public school infrastructure.
Mtima says Sindawonye Primary School is a public school which is situated on private property.
“The department is aware of that school and does render services such as scholar transport… We are not responsible for building a school on that land. As it is not ours, we can’t even fix a fence as part of the agreement with the owner,” Mtima says.
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