It has not been a smooth start to the year for Mary Waters High School learners. Learners say that they have been forced to take history as a subject this year instead of accounting because there is no accounting teacher.
It has not been a smooth start to the year for Mary Waters High School learners. Learners say that they have been forced to take history as a subject this year instead of accounting because there is no accounting teacher.
A Grade 10 learner at the school said that she was forced to do pure maths and history because "there are no teachers for maths literacy and accounting".
Another learner at the school said that she had heard that accounting would not be offered at the school anymore "because there were only a few learners in Grade 10 who chose to do accounting as a subject".
Principal Samuel Wessels denied the allegations saying that the learners "might have got the wrong end of the stick".
He said that the school is not in any kind of academic crisis although he admitted that last year the school had experienced problems because the accounting teacher had left in the middle of the year.
Wessels said problems were averted when Rhodes University senior students and staff got involved and offered classes to the learners.
According to Wessels, accounting is still on the school’s time-table and classes are continuing as normal. “We have made internal arrangements and a substitute teacher is teaching the two accounting classes,” he said.
He added that the school is in the process of advertising for a new accounting teacher "so there is no problem".
Wessels said that as educators, the teachers guide and advise their learners to make the best study choices and that they do not force the learners into any particular area of study.
He also said that learners should have approached him with their concerns, as he would have addressed them immediately.
