Angry parents closed down a Cape Flats school after the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) failed to fix the broken building.
At the start of the second term on Tuesday, children and teachers at Pinedene Primary School in Ravensmead have turned away when parents arrived to find that no repairs had been carried out during the school holidays despite promises by the department.
In recent months, parents have signed petitions and protested outside the school to get the broken building repaired because it poses a danger to their kids, but they say their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
In February, teachers were forced to teach laaities outside under the trees because their school is falling apart.
More than 500 restless children spent hours in the hot sun, blasted by the wind as they tried to learn, while teachers resorted to sticking sheets of paper on the fences to use as blackboards.
ANGER: Parents picketiing outside Pinedene Primary school. Photo: Monique Duval
School Governing Body (SGB) member, Randall Botha, says a total of 13 classes were moved out of a problematic block as they feared it may collapse.
Botha says despite repeated calls for intervention, nothing has happened.
“When we protested, they said the repairs will start in the middle of March, during the school holidays, but when the children arrived on Tuesday, still nothing has been done,” he tells the Daily Voice.
“That building is more than 50 years old. It is dangerous and so the children are being taught outside.
“But the parents are getting gatvol because the children are getting sick and it is getting cold.
“We asked them for temporary classrooms, but still nothing.
“We went into a meeting with the department, but they are full of lies and can’t give us an answer.”
Botha said the children returned to school on Wednesday where they were again taught under trees so that they don’t fall behind.
OUTDOOR LESSONS: Teachers give class outside as building too dangerous. Photo: Monique Duval
“We will meet with the parents again and hear what they want to do now because we can’t go on like this and parents have to work also. After the meeting on Wednesday, we will decide.”
WCED spokesperson, Millicent Merton, did not comment on the reasons for the delay but says the role players will meet today (Thursday) to discuss the repair work.
“The school will receive 12 mobile classrooms to accommodate learners while the repairs are underway,” she says.