The future of hundreds of pupils at Esikhumbuzweni Secondary School in Nquthu, KwaZulu-Natal looks gloomy as the state of their dilapidated school worsens.
Among a host of challenges faced by the teachers and pupils are cracked floors, broken windows and doors, old furniture and poor infrastructure that make teaching and learning almost impossible, leading to protracted absenteeism.
Equal Education (EE), an organisation focusing on learners, parents, and teachers through its activism for equal and quality education in South Africa, said the school does not provide a conducive environment for teaching and learning.
EE researcher Kim Khumalo said: “The first disadvantage the children from this school face is that it is in a rural area, and no one attends to their needs, they are neglected.
“Most of them are determined and hungry for knowledge and success to change their backgrounds but everything is working against them. There is no proper infrastructure, from classrooms to roads, so they miss school for days when it rains. It is astonishing that learners still learn under such conditions in 2022.”
Khumalo further said the school does not have enough resources to cater for pupils who need practical lessons as part of their learning experience. “There is no laboratory or computers for computer studies, and because of the lack of infrastructure, a facility that was supposed to be a laboratory is now a classroom.”
School governing body treasurer Thomas Khumalo said the matriculants in 2021 were forced to sit for their exams at a neighbouring school because the river they needed to cross to get to school was overflowing.
Khumalo said: “Our main cry has always been for a bridge to be built. We need a bridge because when it rains, our children miss out on school days and schoolwork. Both the children and teachers do not go to school when the river is full for fear of their lives.
“The classrooms have no windows panes, the classroom floors are in a bad state, there is no library and no computers. We have been making applications to the department of education in the province but they seem not to care.”
The plight and the condition of the school come at a time when proposals are being made to shift the school infrastructure laws (norms and standards) away from the Department Basic Education.
Education Minister Angie Motshekga gazetted the proposals to make amendments to the norms and standards for public school infrastructure in June.
Under the proposed changes, the deadlines for the government to eradicate pit latrines and provide basic services like water, electricity and classrooms will cease to be the responsibility of Motshekga’s department.
According to data issued by the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC), the shortage of study materials, poverty and violence are listed as the most areas of concern afflicting schools in the country.
The data further show that 80% of schools, mostly in black and coloured areas, are in a deteriorating state.
“The fact that 80% of schools are dysfunctional points to systemic failures which need to be addressed through a transformation of the system,” said the EELC.
“In the EELC’s view, the criteria should reflect and take [into] account all the various dimensions of dysfunction, rather than focusing more narrowly on academic performance, safety, management and governance.”
Kwazi Mthethwa, the spokesperson for KwaZulu-Natal department of education, said the the department is not aware of the poor infrastructure conditions at Esikhumbuzweni.
“The department has 6 200 schools in the system, so it is impractical of you to think that every issue we have within the department reaches the head office. We will follow up on the matter with the HOD [head of department],” said Mthethwa.
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