Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
  • Cue Media
    • Cue online
    • Cue Archives
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Boxing Heritage Hero: Mzimasi ‘Stopper’ Mthana
  • Makhanda Heritage Day MMA tournament thrills fans
  • Amasango Career School premises handover in Extension 10
  • Gutters for the rain
  • Anti-Crime group murder trial postponed
  • Concern and condemnation of recent attacks on Grocott’s journalist
  • Bekushiyana OoMama ukondla kwi tumente yamagqiyazana
  • Makana’s crime spirals out of control
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
  • Cue Media
    • Cue online
    • Cue Archives
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»EDUCATION»Education NEWS»MAWAS Grade 12s plead for classes to resume
Education NEWS

MAWAS Grade 12s plead for classes to resume

Sue MaclennanBy Sue MaclennanMay 18, 2021Updated:May 18, 2021No Comments2 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Parents wait outside Mary Waters Secondary School for Department of Education Area Manager Sizwe Betela on Monday 17 May 2021. By Wednesday 19 May, learners will have missed three days of school. Photo: Sue Maclennan

“Even one day matters in our matric year.”

Grade 12 learners spoke to GMDirect outside Mary Waters Secondary on Monday morning, as the school remain closed for a second day after Grade 8 and 9 term reports showed minus-one scores for four subjects. Outraged parents discovered their children hadn’t been taught those subjects, because there were no teachers to teach them, and insisted the school close until the shortage is resolved.

Local Department of Education officials met with the school’s senior management team (SMT) and the school governing body (SGB) late Monday morning; however, parents insisted they want the head of education in the district, Nkosinathi Godlo, to meet them on Wednesday 19 May.

GMDirect understands that Godlo has been trying to resolve a similar situation at a school in Somerset East in the past few days and we were unable to confirm whether he will indeed come to Makhanda on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, as the midyear exams approach, Grade 12s at Mary Waters are anxious about missing any more classes.

“Look, we’re with them on the fact that the school needs teachers. But even one day in a Grade 12 child’s life has an impact on their performance in the finals- and so on their future.”

Learners had already experience enormous stress as a result of the pandemic.

“Honestly, this is just putting more stress on the learners.”

Another Grade 12 said, “I understand parents are cross and that – but then why stop the higher grades from attending classes?”

Close to tears, he said, “It’s frustrating and depressing, because we see some schools moving forward and we are not.”

Another Grade 12, like her classmates, had come in full uniform and with all her books, fully expecting they would be allowed to continue their classes for the day.

“It’s discouraging,” she said. “This is not how it is supposed to be happening. They could have let us continue classes while they have this meeting.

In Parliament earlier this year, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga, said the national teacher vacancy rate at the end of February was 24 000. In the Eastern Cape, this translated to 3 718   vacant posts. Motshekga told Parliament a total of 50 705 posts had been allocated for 2021.

https://www.grocotts.co.za/2021/05/16/parents-shut-school-over-teacher-shortage/

Previous ArticleSpecial deals at SANParks for travel clubs, stokvels
Next Article Contact sports in schools suspended with immediate effect
Sue Maclennan
  • Twitter

Local journalism

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.