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Opening of W Cape school in Clanwilliam delayed due to fire

Wupperthal
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Learners of the only school at the Wupperthal Moravian Mission Station near Clanwilliam in the Western Cape will not start their school year on Wednesday morning.

A fire gutted the school hostel and 53 homes in the town ten days ago. Wupperthal Morawies Primêre caters for learners from grade R to grade 9. It is the only school for most children of the Mission Station and surrounding rural areas.

The majority of them make use of the hostel, which was one of more than 50 buildings gutted in the fire.

The classrooms miraculously escaped the blaze and are being used as a storage facility by local disaster relief teams.

Classrooms have been turned into makeshift kitchens and storage facilities for donations of food and clothes.

The Western Cape Education Department has granted permission for the start of the school year to be delayed by a week.

Many of the destroyed buildings will be demolished this week.

Meanwhile, the provincial Human Settlement Department will help with emergency shelter and resettlement of people in the devastated historical town. Affected families are also receiving trauma counselling.

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