Education plunges into chaos as pupils sit on buckets, share question papers.
A RADICAL plan by the Eastern Cape department of education to overhaul the education system has left hundreds of pupils without teachers and more than 150 schools in Transkei battling crammed classrooms.
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More than 150 schools have implemented the department’s rationalisation plan, which seeks to streamline education by re-aligning
schools.
In line with the plan, thousands of pupils in Grades 8 and 9 were moved from junior secondary schools into high schools.
Education MEC Mandla Makupula was last year quoted as saying as many as 310 dysfunctional and badly managed schools, which contributed to the Eastern Cape’s poor results, would be closed.
However, a Daily Dispatch investigation found that no provision had been made for extra classrooms and many of the newly realigned schools had become overcrowded.
VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCES: Pupils of Lesley Nkala Senior Secondary School are seen here writing exams sharing one desk Picture: SINO MAJANGAZA
VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCES: Pupils of Lesley Nkala Senior Secondary School are seen here writing exams sharing one desk Picture: SINO MAJANGAZA
Problems plaguing these schools included:
Pupils not being taught certain subjects since the re-opening of schools in January;
Acute shortages of desks and chairs, forcing pupils to sit on window sills, boxes and buckets;
Critical shortages of teachers to cater for the incoming Grade 8 and 9 pupils in many schools;
Pupils having to walk longer distances on foot because no provision has been made for scholar transport to the new schools;
Schools do not have enough books, resulting in many having to borrow from neighbouring schools; and
Pupils forced to sit their June exams without having been taught subjects and not having adequate space to write the exams.
The Daily Dispatch visited 12 schools in Mthatha, Ngcobo, Cofimvaba, Mount Frere, Qumbu and Tsolo where the rationalisation plan has been introduced.
One of the badly affected schools is Ngcobo Village High School in Ngcobo where as many as three pupils are forced to share a desk while others use boxes and water buckets.
One pupil was found writing his June exam while sitting on a window sill.
The school’s head of department, Nelly Ngcobo, said they did not have enough textbooks for the 248 Grade 8 and 202 Grade 9 pupils at the school.
“We only had about 152 pupils last year but now the number has grown to 691.
“We are overcrowded and pupils now have to find creative ways like using buckets as chairs,” she said.
The school had been promised prefab structures by the department, but nothing has been built to date.
During the exams, pupils were also found sharing question papers.
UNCONDUCIVE: Two shacks were erected at KwaNobuhle High School, near Mthatha, to accommodate Grade 8 and 9 pupils
UNCONDUCIVE: Two shacks were erected at KwaNobuhle High School, near Mthatha, to accommodate Grade 8 and 9 pupils.
At Tolweni Senior Secondary School, under the Qumbu district of education, pupils are reportedly taught while standing up in some classes while as many as 100 are crammed into a single classroom.
Teachers at the school told the Dispatch that fights over the few available chairs were constant among pupils.
Many pupils at the school are forced to travel more than 40km to get to school, however, some of the routes are not serviced by the department’s scholar transport programme.
At the neighbouring Buwa Senior Secondary School, the situation was no different. The school only received a maths and science teacher two weeks before the June exams.
“It’s not enough time to prepare pupils,” said principal Luvuyo Bango.
At Qumbu’s Sandy Majeke SSS, teachers complained of being overloaded because there were no Grade 8 and 9 teachers.
Eastern Cape education superintendentgeneral Mthunywa Ngonzo admitted to the challenges but stressed that schools had to be realigned.
He also lamented the fact that pupils were not being taught because of a shortage of teachers.
DESPERATE: Ngcobo Village High School pupil Aphelele Diniso sits on the window sill and uses his lap as a desk
DESPERATE: Ngcobo Village High School pupil Aphelele Diniso sits on the window sill and uses his lap as a desk.
“I cannot say it is fine when children have not been taught, but there is nothing we can do, the country is changing and therefore changes must be effected.
“In the process of doing things, there are children who are going to be guinea pigs of a process of correcting.”
South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) and National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) in the Eastern Cape lambasted the department for “putting the cart before a horse”.
Sadtu provincial secretary Mncekeleli Ndongeni accused the department of “wreaking havoc” in schools “because they [officials] are not the ones who will be targets of vicious attacks when results were bad”.
Naptosa provincial chairman Sithembiso Malusi put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Makupula and Ngonzo.
“The buck stops with him [MEC] and on the administration, the head of department should be made to account for the problems,” he said.
Malusi said while the union supported the realignment of schools, the department should have provided basic education resources to ensure proper and effective teaching in the affected schools.
“That’s the mandate of the state. We have raised these problems. Chances of these pupils passing are very few,” he added. —
Reply
Salif
June 25, 2014
Meanwhile in a parallel world,the BCM executive down the road are holed up in court for fraud.
Reply
Rob
June 25, 2014
This province is a downright mess. You only have to look as far as your pavement to see it.
http://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/schools-learning-to-fail/
A RADICAL plan by the Eastern Cape department of education to overhaul the education system has left hundreds of pupils without teachers and more than 150 schools in Transkei battling crammed classrooms.
Logo
More than 150 schools have implemented the department’s rationalisation plan, which seeks to streamline education by re-aligning
schools.
In line with the plan, thousands of pupils in Grades 8 and 9 were moved from junior secondary schools into high schools.
Education MEC Mandla Makupula was last year quoted as saying as many as 310 dysfunctional and badly managed schools, which contributed to the Eastern Cape’s poor results, would be closed.
However, a Daily Dispatch investigation found that no provision had been made for extra classrooms and many of the newly realigned schools had become overcrowded.
VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCES: Pupils of Lesley Nkala Senior Secondary School are seen here writing exams sharing one desk Picture: SINO MAJANGAZA
VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCES: Pupils of Lesley Nkala Senior Secondary School are seen here writing exams sharing one desk Picture: SINO MAJANGAZA
Problems plaguing these schools included:
Pupils not being taught certain subjects since the re-opening of schools in January;
Acute shortages of desks and chairs, forcing pupils to sit on window sills, boxes and buckets;
Critical shortages of teachers to cater for the incoming Grade 8 and 9 pupils in many schools;
Pupils having to walk longer distances on foot because no provision has been made for scholar transport to the new schools;
Schools do not have enough books, resulting in many having to borrow from neighbouring schools; and
Pupils forced to sit their June exams without having been taught subjects and not having adequate space to write the exams.
The Daily Dispatch visited 12 schools in Mthatha, Ngcobo, Cofimvaba, Mount Frere, Qumbu and Tsolo where the rationalisation plan has been introduced.
One of the badly affected schools is Ngcobo Village High School in Ngcobo where as many as three pupils are forced to share a desk while others use boxes and water buckets.
One pupil was found writing his June exam while sitting on a window sill.
The school’s head of department, Nelly Ngcobo, said they did not have enough textbooks for the 248 Grade 8 and 202 Grade 9 pupils at the school.
“We only had about 152 pupils last year but now the number has grown to 691.
“We are overcrowded and pupils now have to find creative ways like using buckets as chairs,” she said.
The school had been promised prefab structures by the department, but nothing has been built to date.
During the exams, pupils were also found sharing question papers.
UNCONDUCIVE: Two shacks were erected at KwaNobuhle High School, near Mthatha, to accommodate Grade 8 and 9 pupils
UNCONDUCIVE: Two shacks were erected at KwaNobuhle High School, near Mthatha, to accommodate Grade 8 and 9 pupils.
At Tolweni Senior Secondary School, under the Qumbu district of education, pupils are reportedly taught while standing up in some classes while as many as 100 are crammed into a single classroom.
Teachers at the school told the Dispatch that fights over the few available chairs were constant among pupils.
Many pupils at the school are forced to travel more than 40km to get to school, however, some of the routes are not serviced by the department’s scholar transport programme.
At the neighbouring Buwa Senior Secondary School, the situation was no different. The school only received a maths and science teacher two weeks before the June exams.
“It’s not enough time to prepare pupils,” said principal Luvuyo Bango.
At Qumbu’s Sandy Majeke SSS, teachers complained of being overloaded because there were no Grade 8 and 9 teachers.
Eastern Cape education superintendentgeneral Mthunywa Ngonzo admitted to the challenges but stressed that schools had to be realigned.
He also lamented the fact that pupils were not being taught because of a shortage of teachers.
DESPERATE: Ngcobo Village High School pupil Aphelele Diniso sits on the window sill and uses his lap as a desk
DESPERATE: Ngcobo Village High School pupil Aphelele Diniso sits on the window sill and uses his lap as a desk.
“I cannot say it is fine when children have not been taught, but there is nothing we can do, the country is changing and therefore changes must be effected.
“In the process of doing things, there are children who are going to be guinea pigs of a process of correcting.”
South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) and National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) in the Eastern Cape lambasted the department for “putting the cart before a horse”.
Sadtu provincial secretary Mncekeleli Ndongeni accused the department of “wreaking havoc” in schools “because they [officials] are not the ones who will be targets of vicious attacks when results were bad”.
Naptosa provincial chairman Sithembiso Malusi put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Makupula and Ngonzo.
“The buck stops with him [MEC] and on the administration, the head of department should be made to account for the problems,” he said.
Malusi said while the union supported the realignment of schools, the department should have provided basic education resources to ensure proper and effective teaching in the affected schools.
“That’s the mandate of the state. We have raised these problems. Chances of these pupils passing are very few,” he added. —
Reply
Salif
June 25, 2014
Meanwhile in a parallel world,the BCM executive down the road are holed up in court for fraud.
Reply
Rob
June 25, 2014
This province is a downright mess. You only have to look as far as your pavement to see it.
http://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/schools-learning-to-fail/
