Stationery – check. Books – check. But the redeployment of teachers, rampant vandalism of school resources and teachers playing administrators were just some of the challenges township schools still faced.
Stationery – check. Books – check. But the redeployment of teachers, rampant vandalism of school resources and teachers playing administrators were just some of the challenges township schools still faced.
This was the good and bad news that Social Services Committee Chairperson, Mthuthuzeli Matyumza, and Councillor Malibongwe Kubalo heard as they visited schools on Wednesday, in the committee's back-to-school campaign to assess how well-equipped schools in the municipality were to function properly in the new year.
"It is correct for us to look at the social affairs of our community, particularly education," Matyumza said. "As you can understand, education is one of the key priorities of our government." He said for this reason it was their responsibility as local government to look at the challenges faced in education. He said they needed to take that blame and ownership of those issues, to the point where they would work towards solutions.
Matyumza said he noticed that teachers were stretched – both running the schools and involved in managing the schools. "Teachers are in class and again run the administration in management," he said. "Principals are champions and custodians of the curriculum in schools and we do not expect them to handle the other side."
He raised the serious problem of vandalism, particularly in TEM Mrwetyana and Benjamin Mahlasela, where there were no caretakers. "Mahlasela currently is not a school where people can educate. The environment there is not a healthy environment," Matyumza said.
"Mahlasela is currently is a serious issue [on which]we need to engage with the department of education. "The numbers that have been registered [at Benjamin Mahlasela]are not even 100. This is a serious problem.
"Yes, we value their concern about the redeployment of teachers," he said, referring to the fact that 9 teachers out of 15 would be redeployed from the school. "But again we need to engage with the district office [of education]particularly with the need to look at the appointment of principals, who need to guide the schools."
He said schools needed to appoint permanent, full-time principals for them to work properly. He also said that there was a need for strong school governing bodies that could not only organise school events, but could also resolve issues at schools. "As the Social Services Committee, we will make sure to establish an education desk so we can make time to time deal with educational issues."
Matyumza appealed to parents to register their children at schools well in advance, noting that at the schools they visited, crowds of students were registering at the last minute, instead of being in class.
