Grahamstown's district education office has finally revealed how it plans to redistribute almost 100 pupils registered at Benjamin Mahlasela Secondary School, that lies in ruins less than 20 years after its establishment.
Grahamstown's district education office has finally revealed how it plans to redistribute almost 100 pupils registered at Benjamin Mahlasela Secondary School, that lies in ruins less than 20 years after its establishment.
The school opened in 1996, but over the past few years attendance and numbers have dropped so low that it has become necessary for the institution to close and for pupils to be transferred. Rampant vandalism has also taken root in the buildings.
District education officer Amos Fetsha, answering questions that were e-mailed to him last week, said these problems make it difficult to keep the school running.
In fact, over a number of years now the learner numbers in that school have become so few, or less than 100, that it has become uneconomically viable and uneducationally sound to keep the school, Fetsha said.
Furthermore, there is continued gross under-utilisation of the massive infrastructure and vandalism has become the order of the day, thus continuing to lead to the deterioration of the very infrastructure.
When Grocott's Mail visited Benjamin Mahlasela recently, the low number of pupils and vandalism were witnessed first-hand. Requests to speak to the principal were denied.
Fetsha later explained that the principal, Sandile Dude, has now retired and Mluleki Kulati has been appointed acting principal. Then Fetsha said their turn-around strategy will be to relocate pupils and teachers to other nearby schools.
"The only logical move… is to distribute the learners to the nearby schools for a conducive learning environment as well as to distribute educators to where their skills and knowledge could be utilised. "
According to Fetsha, the necessary planning and consultation has taken place and processes [are]underway to facilitate the movement.
