Grahamstown schools have stationery and workbooks and enough textbooks to start the school year – but there still aren’t enough teachers to go around.
Grahamstown schools have stationery and workbooks and enough textbooks to start the school year – but there still aren’t enough teachers to go around.
The situation varied widely on the first day of school this week, with startling differences even between schools in the same area.
At Archie Mbolekwa Senior Primary, principal Zola Mothlabane was upbeat.
“Things look good in terms of numbers,” he said. “We have grown.
“The down-side is that our parents flock to the school on the first day to register, instead of sorting it out months ago.”
This year the school has added Grade 3 to its new Foundation Phase programme and this has increased their numbers even more.
Stationery and workbooks had been received and, like all the other schools we interviewed, Archie Mbolekwa were looking forward to having their store of textbooks topped up, but had enough to get on with meanwhile.
“We’ve strategised for what we want to achieve, we expect a productive year. There are good reasons every school wants our Grade 9s.”
At DD Siwisa Primary, the day began with stirring words from Pastor Phumla Pango at the school’s first-day assembly. Quoting from the Book of Nehemiah, she compared the teacher’s task with the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
“In one hand you must carry the sword (i.e. your faith); in the other you must rebuild the school,” she told children, parents and teachers gathered on the school quad in Wednesday morning’s hot sun.
Principal Zolani Gosani later told Grocott’s Mail the school had declared 2016 as the year of “business unusual”.
A twinning with a school in Finland means they have support in advocating to offer music as a subject at the school.
Other strong focuses for the school, he said, would be computer literacy, and sport.
Piles of workbooks were being collected by pupils and taken to classrooms, and Gosani said the school had also received stationery.
Toilets that are broken are one of the reasons children don’t come to school at Andrew Moyake Primary, said acting principal Vuyokazi Somala.
“They are doing much-needed repairs on the toilets,” said Somala, “but it’s taking time.”
The building badly needs renovation, with some broken windows boarded up.
The school has a severe shortage of teachers – which there’s little hope of improving because of the school’s low numbers. They need a principal, a Grade 2 teacher and a Grade 5 teacher.
“Our Grade 7 teacher is temporary and could be recalled at any time,” she said.
The positive was that school bags and stationery had been received, and a line of Foundation Phase pupils waiting for their school meal was evidence that this crucial aspect of the school that provides a safety net for children from low-income families was up and running.
The principals of Samuel Ntsiko Primary (Nombulelo Koliti), Ntaba Maria (Rodney Scheepers) and Fikizolo Primary (Zoleka Kate) all said they’d received stationery and workbooks.
“We’re just not sure if they’re going to be enough for the learners, as there are still some registering,” said Koliti on Wednesday.
Ntaba Maria has extra Grade 6 classes and needs more teachers and Samuel Ntsiko is also waiting for more teachers.
Ntaba Maria arrange their own transport.
Fikizolo is concerned that their fund for school transport will end in March.
Scheepers said he was frustrated that yet again there were more children applying for Grade R and Grade 1 than schools could accept.
“It’s a problem every year, there’s too many children applying,” he said. “It’s the same with every school. It should be sorted out by the department.”
Oatlands Prep’s Grade Rs are, for the first time this year, using the school’s new dedicated area in a converted building recently purchased by the school.
“It’s very exciting that we’ve now got our own Grade R set-up,” said teacher Alison Dugmore. “And this is our inaugural class!”
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•Anele Mjekula, Stephen Penney, Loyiso Dyongman, Azlan Makalima and Sue Maclennan contributed to this article.
