A calamity that has had such as far-reaching impact was bound, in one way or another, to disrupt schooling. Three schools were directly affected by the floods, namely, Jagersfontein and Boaramello combined schools, and St Laurens Primary.
The disaster culminated in the schools registering low attendance rates for reasons that included water and electricity cuts, loss of belongings and trauma.
However, the Provincial Department of Education has engaged all relevant stakeholders to encourage parents to allow children to return to school.
The provincial government reported that on Monday and Tuesday, pupils’ attendance was adversely affected with all three schools registering below 50% attendance.
On September 13, the Free State Department of Education held several meetings with relevant roleplayers, which included school management teams, school governing bodies and teacher unions to address the poor attendance crisis.
The Department also engaged Bloem Water to help fill all jojo tanks at the three schools, and by the end of business on Tuesday, all tanks were filled.
The Department also supplied schools with generators to help address the issue of electricity and water supply. At both Jagersfontein Combined and Boaramelo Combined the boreholes have been restored.
- On Wednesday, September 14, Boaramelo Combined School registered an attendance of 792 out of the total of 870 pupils.
- At St Lawrence, 214 out of 301 pupils also started attending classes again.
- Jagersfontein Combined saw 280 out of 570, which is very low in comparison to the two other schools.
- Thirty pupils out of 77 who were placed in Bloemfontein were returned on Tuesday, and 26 of them were placed at the Olien Hostel in Fauresmith, while four were placed at the Jagersfontein Combined Hostel.
Preliminary reports indicate that the number may change as the provincial government verifies numbers daily.
The education department has reported that more than 109 pupils at Boaramelo are victims of the disaster, with 40 pupils at St Lawrence also affected by the disaster, while Jagersfontein Combined School saw 19 pupils directly affected by the tragedy.
Teachers, too, did not escape the wrath of the tragedy.
At Boaramelo, six teachers and two voluntary food handlers were directly affected while St Lawrence and Jagersfontein Combined School saw one teacher and a food handler affected respectively.
The Free State Department of Education has placed all affected pupils in a safe shelter and is arranging catch-up lessons for them.
