Pretoria - Section27 will return to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to ensure that the Department of Basic Education as well as its Limpopo counterpart fix infrastructure at “forgotten schools” in that province.

This follows the government’s decision in 2020 to suspend infrastructure projects to repair and renovate schools.

The court will be asked to review and set aside that decision so that schools in Limpopo can receive infrastructure that they urgently need.

Section27 represents Ndzalama Primary, Dingamanzi Primary, Chameti Secondary and Bvuma Primary schools, all in Limpopo.

These schools have serious infrastructure problems that endanger the lives of school staff and pupils, disrupt teaching and learning, and violate children’s rights to dignity, equality and basic education, said Section27’s Julia Chaskalson.

Many schools were promised infrastructure projects years before the Covid-19 lockdown, and in some cases, funds were even allocated for delivery of these projects. However, when the pandemic struck, infrastructure projects were suspended indefinitely.

Projects that were supposed to be concluded years ago remain unfinished, and school communities continue to suffer the consequences.

The government has meanwhile indicated it will be opposing the application.

Chaskalson said pupils, staff and caregivers from the schools they represent face many challenges. For example, when it rains, pupils at some schools are crammed into classrooms where the leaks are not as bad or shift desks and textbooks around to avoid water damage.

Pupils are sometimes sent home before storms because the noise caused by rain or wind on damaged roofing is deafening.

Pupils and teachers are also worried about classrooms collapsing due to structural defects. In other cases, the lack of adequate classrooms causes overcrowding, and overcrowded classes often overheat in the hot climate of Limpopo.

At some schools, pupils are forced to learn outside under trees because of the lack of safe and sufficient classrooms. These conditions make it not only very difficult for teachers to teach, but also for pupils to concentrate.

The extent of the neglect of the forgotten schools stretches back years and, in some cases, decades, Chaskalson said.

Ndzalama Primary School’s roof was damaged during a storm in 2012. In 2018, another storm completely ripped off the roof of two classroom blocks. Unable to use these classrooms, the school is forced to squeeze pupils into safer classrooms.

The school community of Dingamanzi Primary School has been trying to engage with the Limpopo department since 2001 about classrooms that are dilapidated and unsafe. The school does not have sufficient classrooms for its pupils, neither does it have electricity. When it rains, the noise of rain on the roof is so loud that learning stops entirely.

Some classrooms at Chameti Secondary School were made from mud bricks in 1988, which are now cracked, crumbling and dangerous. Supporting pillars of the classrooms were damaged during a storm a decade ago, but the department has not fixed them.

Similar conditions exist at Bvuma Primary School, where mud brick classrooms get so hot that pupils cannot concentrate. Pupils are squeezed into newer classrooms, causing overcrowding.

A storm at Bvuma Primary School ripped the roof off two blocks of toilets, leaving them exposed, and electrical equipment at the school was also damaged.

Chaskalson said each of these schools were promised infrastructure repairs to improve the learning and teaching environment.

In many cases money was allocated – and sometimes even allegedly spent – on these projects, she said.

“But conditions at the schools have not improved, and projects that were supposed to be completed remain in limbo,” she added.

Section27 is approaching the court to declare education authorities’ decision to suspend infrastructure projects during Covid-19 unlawful and unconstitutional.

“We are asking the court to order the departments to develop a plan for the building, repair and renovation of the schools we represent, and to implement these plans within specific time frames.”

The department will also be asked to produce a list of other school infrastructure projects that were suspended during 2020, along with a plan to complete these projects.

This plan must set dates for when construction will resume at each school, so that schools don’t have to wait decades more to get the infrastructure they deserve, she said.

No date has yet been set for the court hearing.

Pretoria News

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