The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape has called on the Provincial Education Department to urgently intervene in the closure of Deben Primary School.
The school has been shut for four days due to overcrowding and the non-placement of learners who remain on the department’s waiting list for school placements. Parents are angry and are keeping their children away from school, also making threats towards the school.
The school can accommodate 1400 learners but there are 1 885 learners at the school and an additional 88 on the waiting list. The school has reported the matter to the department, which has apparently offered no solutions.
I conducted an oversight inspection of the school today, during which the school principal addressed teachers. He informed them that the school would remain closed because learners were not attending classes due to the department’s failure to address the current school crisis.
Overcrowding at the school is not a new problem. The school ordered an additional mobile classroom through the department in August last year. It was meant to be delivered in December 2022 but has yet to arrive.
While the school hopes to meet with the department in Kimberley tomorrow, the DA’s provincial spokesperson of education will also contact the department, appealing to them to prioritise the Deben matter.
The school community is growing increasingly agitated at the situation. By now, children should be settled in their classes and learning should have commenced.