Tiphembeleni Primary School in KaNyamazane, in Mbombela remains locked. Parents at the Mpumalanga school have withdrawn their children, fearing for their safety. This is the second week of no schooling.
Parents say the 47-year-old facility is a disaster waiting to happen. Built in 1972, the school infrastructure is no longer what it used to be.
One of the parents, May Lubambo, has decried the state of the school saying, “We need our children to be safe in this school. We need our MEC to attend to our grievances, as from last week the MEC doesn’t want to come to the school. That’s the problem that we have. The children won’t come to school until it’s safe. We can’t allow our children to come to this school when we know it’s not safe.’
The parents want the government to address the infrastructure challenges before pupils can return to class.
The Provincial Education Department claims a contractor has been appointed to attend to the school, but is unable to access the school due to the protest.
Head of Communication at the Mpumalanga Department of Education, Jasper Zwane says, “We have already appointed a constructor to start building. We are appealing to parents to refrain from disturbing the learning activities when raising their grievances. We will be meeting with the parents to try and resolve this impasse.”
A meeting to resolve the impasse is scheduled for Thursday.
