With the matric exams less than two weeks away, concern has been raised about the “poor state” of some Durban schools which have been impacted by vandalism, theft and lack of parental involvement.
Parents and opposition parties said that visits to some schools in the city had revealed facilities that were falling into a state of disrepair and not conducive to teaching and learning.
Some of these schools had performed poorly in the last matric examinations. The matric exams will begin on October 21.
The DA recently visited schools in the uMlazi District to assess the state of readiness ahead of the 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC) final examinations.
DA KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson for Education Sakhile Mngadi said last week they visited a school in uMlazi District where they found serious challenges.
“The tour has revealed disturbing conditions at several schools. Inspections at uMlazi schools earlier this week found that many of the issues previously affecting NSC performance are yet to be dealt with by the Department of Education.”
He said an inspection was also carried out at the Chatsworth Secondary School, where gangsterism and theft were cited as the main reasons for the school’s dismal 55% NSC pass rate.
“The school – which underwent a R3.5 million renovation in 2017 – has nothing to show for the improvements today after gangs entered the premises, stealing everything including all the aluminium windows.
“Some classroom blocks have not had electricity for more than two years as a result of drug addicts breaking in and stealing copper wire in order to sell it. The school is unable to fix the classroom blocks – which are now unused and cordoned off – because there is no money.
“Educators also feel unsafe at school after hours, affecting lesson preparation and ultimately learning while teacher absenteeism is also an issue as the school only has 11 permanent teachers. This has led to the principal also having to teach classes,” said Mngadi.
At its peak, he said Chatsworth Secondary School enrolled 1 200 pupils and achieved 100% pass rate.
“Today, parts of the school resemble a ghost town and enrolment has dropped to below 400 pupils.”
He added that the delegation also visited Witteklip Secondary School in Chatsworth – which only achieved a matric pass rate of 47% in 2023.
“We were informed that a lack of parental involvement was one of the key drivers behind lacklustre pupil performance,” he said.
He said they learnt from school management that a parent/teacher meeting earlier in the year, to discuss matric pupils’ academic performance, was only attended by two parents when there are 138 matric pupils.
“It is clear that issues around maintenance, crime, parent apathy and departmental support and strategy are at the heart of why some schools continue to under perform,” said Mngadi.
Vee Gani of KZN Parents’ Association said on a recent visit to Chatsworth Secondary School, the school had no electricity.
“We visited the Chatsworth Secondary School where we found that there is no electricity. On the day we visited it was overcast, meaning it’s dark in the classroom and the children cannot even see what they are writing. How do you expect teachers to teach in such conditions, or pupils to get good marks under such?”
Doctor Ngema of the National Teachers’ Union (Natu) said the Pinetown district was another area where schools had problems due to crime.
“You would recall that a few months ago a Grade R teacher was shot dead at a school that falls under the Pinetown area.
“There have been other numerous reports of teachers being attacked and robbed at schools. The issue of crime is a serious problem and the general issue of gangsterism. Each time pupils come back from school holidays, you will find that schools have been broken into and assets stolen,” he said.
Speaking on readiness for the final exams, he said he believed that teachers and pupils had done all that they can.
Thirona Moodley, from union Naptosa, said theft, vandalism and criminality was wreaking havoc in schools. She said the department did not have the funds to repair the damage and replace what was lost.
“We have to increase security in schools, we need to fix the root problem, we need to get communities on board to assist us in protecting the schools and for local people to volunteer to fix schools.”
Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said criminal activity had a severe impact on schools.
“Every minor disturbance means studying time that has been lost for the child, the schools are a microcosm of society and it plays itself out in the school.”
He said the MEC will brief the public soon on the state of readiness for the matric exams.
“We urge the community not to disrupt these coming exams with service delivery protests, such conduct has a serious impact on the pupils’ writing and the outcome of the exams.”
The Mercury