Parents and learners at Makukhanye Primary School in in Ngcobo are pleading with the Eastern Cape Department of Education to fulfill a years-old promise to build a proper school, as children are now being taught on a pavement due to severely overcrowded and dilapidated classrooms.
The school’s history is one of community initiative and repeated disappointment. Originally built by the community itself using makeshift shacks, the school received a single concrete block from a disaster relief initiative after the original structures were destroyed by strong winds. That single block is now also in a state of disrepair.
According to a parent representative, the community’s long wait for a permanent structure is backed by official documents. “In our investigations we found that the school was supposed to be built in 2018 because it was a project number one in 2018,” the spokesperson said. “We also found that in 2019 our school appeared to be in a backlog. That’s where we found information in writing that the school was in a process of being constructed. As a result, a constructor was even appointed to build the school.”
The frustration among parents is palpable. One parent highlighted the intergenerational nature of the problem, stating, “We are asking for a school because our children get called being taught outside. I can see them when I’m at home when they are being taught outside. I have a child that used to be a learner here. She is married now and has her own children.”
In response to the outcry, a spokesperson for the Provincial Department of Education defended the current infrastructure. The department claims there are additional temporary structures that have been provided and will be completed soon. “Currently we are providing them with mobile classrooms to add to what they have,” the spokesperson said. “They don’t qualify for anything more than that because we are of the view that their school or the infrastructure that is in the schools is appropriate for that school.”
This assessment has been met with outrage from parents at Makukhanye Primary. They have rejected the department’s position, insisting that the only acceptable solution is the construction of the permanent school buildings they were promised, finally putting an end to years of makeshift classrooms.