The only sounds are birdsong and the low hum of traffic from the main road that passes through the village of Salem to Alexandria and Kenton.
The only sounds are birdsong and the low hum of traffic from the main road that passes through the village of Salem to Alexandria and Kenton.
A dirt track winds up the hill towards the Salem Pre- School. I followed the tracks of small antelope in the soft, muddy ground.
The sun had come out after a day of heavy rainfall, and large pools of brown water had collected in the numerous potholes. Small lakes had formed in places.
I had encountered this hazardous road before, and left the car behind. I walked, as the children do every day to school.
Small footpaths disappear into the bush. They are less worn than they used to be. Nomathemba Mlungwana is looking forward to retiring in two years.
She has taught at the Salem Pre-school for 20 years and witnessed its gradual decline. “There used to be eight teachers,” she recalled.
Now she is the last one there. Things changed after 1994, she said. Mlungwana’s explanation is that with post-election optimism, people felt they had the “freedom of staying anywhere” so they moved to the location.
wherever they wanted to. There was no pressure, but there were expectations. “They built shacks, waiting for houses to be built.” This exodus resulted in a drop in the number of learners at the school.
The situation was later compounded by the redeployment of teachers who were not replaced, she said, which also had a knock-on effect.
A severe lack of local employment opportunities drove families into the location. There are only seven children left, plus a three year old girl who comes to school with her older brother.
Four of the children are from one family. According to Mlungwana, most of the parents of the remaining children are unemployed and live in a nearby squatter camp.
However, they do not have to pay school fees and the Department of Education (DoE) provides books and stationery.
The children also get one meal a day, which is cooked on site by a local woman. The parents have become involved in the maintenance of the school building, she said, pointing to a recently painted wall.
The DoE provided the materials and the parents, the labour. The school is for Grades 1 to 5 and uses multi-grade and multiphase teaching, a common practice in rural schools that groups different grades together.
Mlungwana finds it challenging, but also rewarding. She takes a lot of pride in the children’s success, especially when they go on to do well at other schools in the area.
When they first come to school, many of the children have not been exposed to anything other than a farm or rural environment.
She thinks it is important to expose them to the wider world. “You have to start with the known, and then take them to the unknown,” she said.
Mlungwana said she doesn’t know what the future holds, but she is hopeful. There is a possibility that the rural schools in the area will amalgamate in the future.
She thinks this could be a good solution, and it would benefit the children to be exposed to other children and places. If the plan goes ahead, the children will be provided with transport by the DoE.
