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Education Department denying Nkalweni SPS learners their right to a safe learning environment

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Dear MyPE

The Eastern Cape Department of Education is denying the learners of the Nkalweni Senior Primary School (SPS), in kuBhodi Village in the Nyandeni Municipality, their basic human right to a safe learning environment.

Yesterday, 12 November 2020, I was joined by Democratic Alliance (DA) councillors in the OR Tambo Constituency in conducting an oversight inspection at this school, where learning is provided to 141 children from Gr R to 7.

We were shocked to find that learning, with the exception of four temporary structures that were donated by a Good Samaritan, is expected to take place in a school constructed from mud and corrugated iron.

Classrooms are small, and it is impossible for learners to adhere to social distancing during a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is rampant in the Eastern Cape. Some classrooms have no doors, no windows and the roofs are leaking, making learning virtually impossible.

The school grounds are unsafe, as they are not fenced in and villagers walk through the premises on a regular basis. The overgrown grounds are also a problem, encouraging snakes to the area, which pose a significant threat to the learners.

Scholar transport is unavailable in the area and on rainy days a local river overflows. This leads to children from neighbouring villages not being able to attend the school.

In 2011 the ANC promised there would be no more mud schools by 2018. The National Department of Basic Education set aside R11 billion in 2011 to replace 530 mud schools in the province.

In 2018 there were still 436 mud schools operational in the province, with an estimated additional price tag of R16,9 billion to replace them. The EC Education Department estimates that the eradication of mud schools will now only be a reality in 2022.

In the DA-governed Western Cape mud schools have been eradicated, and all children have a safe learning environment.

I will take the plight of Nkalweni SPS to the National Parliament. I will be submitting questions for written reply to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). I will also request my DA colleagues in the Eastern Cape Legislature to take the matter up with the EC Education Department.

Only a DA government can ensure a safe and clean learning environment that will protect our children’s constitutional right to quality basic education.

Regards

Mlindi Nhanha, MP
OR Tambo Constituency Leader

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