Basil Jafta
The School Governing Body at Patensie Agricultural High School in the Eastern Cape has decided to shut its gates due to overcrowding.
SGB member, Basil Jafta, says this decision taken by parents at a meeting last month comes after the Department of Education's "empty promises" to deliver mobile classrooms to ease the pressure on the school.
He said the department conducted an oversight visit to the school early in December last year and said they would deliver the mobile classrooms in January, having known about the issue since 2017.
Jafta said learners in Grade 8, 9 and 10 only go to school twice a week due to the lack of space, and this has led to an increase in the failure rate while teachers are also now behind on the school syllabus.
"Our children can't come because there is no space at the school, and in December the department visited the school and said as soon as it starts in January they will come to drop off the classes," he said.
"We left them in January, February and March. In March we had a meeting and the parents said in April we should close the school until the department drops off the mobile classrooms," Jafta added.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Cape Department of Education said a steering committee consisting of stakeholders was elected to work on acquiring suitable land to extend the school.
Spokesperson, Mali Mtima, said after several meetings, mobile classrooms were identified as a temporary solution to accommodate the numbers at the school.
He said suitable land to build a fully-fledged high school was identified as a challenge.
"Additional teachers, shortage of classrooms and a serious underperforming management have been identified as a challenge, amongst other issues," he said.
Mtima said the school is habitually underperforming and an intervention team was also established for immediate intervention, however, he says the Department is aware of all the challenges at the school and these are being addressed systematically.
