Samantha Zeederberg couldn't hold back the tears when she heard her Grade 1 son's school would be closed.
|||Cape Town - Samantha Zeederberg couldn’t hold back the tears when she heard her Grade 1 son’s school would be closed. Lavisrylaan Primary is among 20 schools in the province that will have to shut their doors on December 31.
“We thought we would get good news today but when we heard that the school is going to close, everyone was sad. People were crying. This is my son’s first year at school. He didn’t know that something like this would happen.”
Zeederberg said she had made no plans to place six-year-old Zeeque in another school. She still believes that the school will remain open.
“God has the final say. It was at this school that I voted for Helen Zille. Now she is hurting us.”
On Tuesday Education MEC Donald Grant said the school’s pupil numbers were low and had decreased to 156 children.
He said the pupils could be accommodated at Helderberg Primary where there were generally better literacy and numeracy development opportunities.
Beauvallon Secondary School principal Henry Hockey said the fact that the Education Department had already paid John Ramsay High School R3 million in March to accommodate his pupils showed that they had made up their minds months ago.
He said that the department’s decision to close down his school was insensitive and a smack in the face to the Valhalla Park community who had spent time trying to keep the school open since the proposed closure was announced.
“He (Grant) has wasted the time of this community by giving the impression that he was consulting them in the meantime he had already made up his mind to close the school.”
He said the school was the only high school in the community of Valhalla Park and pupils felt unsafe about having to travel to John Ramsay for classes because they would have to move between rival gang territories.
“They are too scared to leave the area. They said bluntly, they can’t go to that school.”
Grant said part of the reason why he was closing the school was that the infrastructure had become unsafe.
On a walkabout of the school with Hockey and Eric Walters, head of the governing body, the Cape Argus was shown four classroom which had neither walls or windows.
Hockey said: “We have three double-storey blocks, two of them are in good condition. In the last one only four rooms are in a bad state because the hardboards (material used to build them) had deteriorated over the years. People had started taking advantage of that and pulled the classrooms apart to make money from the windows and frames.”
Walters said they had been trying to get the department to let them fix the classrooms for the past four years.
The mood at Athwood Primary School in Hanover Park was more jovial when they found out that the school would remain open.
Mogamat-Zain Allie, who has been a teacher at the school for 35 years, said they were relieved. He said they were going to work hard to improve their marks and keep the school safe.
In one of the classrooms, Shereen Jacobs, a teacher at the school for the past 36 years, was busy with a class.
Jacobs said due to vandalism her classroom h ad no ceiling lights, electrical plugs or electricity.
It is one of few with a ceiling and Jacobs said she feared that the room would eventually cave in.
She said she was so nervous about yesterday’s announcement that “I never slept last night”.
“Since we won’t be moving, we have to take ownership of the school. The children are happy and the parents are happy.”
At Zonnebloem Nest Senior School and Peak View Secondary teachers and pupils were “ecstatic” when they heard their schools would stay open.
“It was a long wait. We informed the pupils immediately. They were joyful, happy and excited,” said Zonnebloem teacher Carmen Hector.
Oswald de Villiers, principal of Peak View Secondary, said: “The pupils were so excited. I can’t describe the emotions.”
The school had the lowest matric pass rate in the Western Cape last year but De Villiers said there had been significant improvement since the school introduced Xhosa as a home language.
How it transpired
* At the end of May Education MEC Donald Grant notifies 27 schools of his intention to close them at the end of the year. Governing bodies were then given the opportunity to make representation in relation to the proposed closures.
* In July Grant announces that after considering all representations received from the governing bodies he has decided to proceed with public hearings for each of the 27 schools. The public was also invited to make written submissions.
* In August the Western Cape Education Department announces that it has prepared a placement plan for pupils affected by the proposed closures. During public hearings at Protea Primary in Bonteheuwel and at Lavisrylaan in Bishop Lavis pupils and parents speak out against the proposed closures.
* Last month Grant announces that the public participation process is closed and that he is considering all representations made to him.
* On October 16 Grant announces that 20 of the 27 schools will be closed. The ANC and Sadtu vow to fight the decision.
ilse.fredericks@inl.co.za
Cape Argus