Pic: Supplied
Learners at Aeroville Senior Secondary School in Somerset East were greeted by locked gates on Tuesday morning when fed-up parents decided to shut down the school in protest against the shortage of teachers.
Community members and parents say little to no teaching had taken place since schools reopened last week.
Frustrated community members held a peaceful march on Tuesday morning in an attempt to put pressure on the Provincial Education Department to fill the vacant posts.
“Our kids cannot go to a school where there are 53 kids in a class with no teacher in front of them,” said concerned parent, Grant Horne, who spoke on behalf of the other parents.
He said the decision to close the school also followed attempts by the principal last year to negotiate with the Department, via the school governing body, to employ more teachers.
"The principal went so far as to take CVs from people from other provinces that suites our criteria and he attached those CVs to the emails to the department,” he said.
Horne further alleges that the Education Department had ignored the principal’s recommendations and had suggested that non-Afrikaans-speaking educators be sent to the school, which he said was a "big no-no.”
“We are not racist, but if someone comes who cannot speak Afrikaans to our Afrikaans learners then our kids will fail [because] learners will have to adapt to English.”
Eastern Cape Education Department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima acknowledged the teacher shortage at Aeroville.
“Yes, we are aware that there are seven vacancies. Four offer letters will be issued today from the Fundza Lushaka placement list,” he said.
Horne said: “The problem is we need seven or eight teachers. What about the other three classes that don’t have any teachers?”
