Parents have raised concerns about the situation at Riverlea High School in southern Johannesburg as the school has turned into a den of criminals.
The 52-year-old school had eight classrooms that were burnt about five years ago and have never been fixed.
A school official said the school was allegedly burnt by community members.
“More and more parents are taking their children out of the school. We used to have an intake of about 1,200 learners and this year we have about 800. The department has visited the school a number of times and a quotation was signed by the principal but nothing has happened. At this stage it is going to require the department millions of rand to refurbish the school, which is also built with asbestos,” said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.
Parents said they were worried about the safety of their children at the school.
Lennette Louw, a parent and a former school governing body chairperson, said their children were being mugged by drug dealers and the situation was not safe for both the learners and the teachers.
“There are criminals who are using the burnt classes as their smoking areas. Our teachers must teach and still be concerned about their safety. At this stage we are lucky because we have the rotational table and the school is able to accommodate the learners. Before Covid-19 classes were overcrowded,” he said.
Another parent, who wanted to remain anonymous, said architects had visited the school after they had complained to the department, but nothing happened.
DA Gauteng shadow MEC for education Khume Ramulifho said the school’s infrastructure was old and dilapidated and needed urgent attention.
“Failure by the department to prioritise fixing the school infrastructure is impacting negatively on learning and teaching. Safety and security is a challenge at the school as they have experienced several break-ins. This is very concerning as the department failed to exercise its responsibility to conduct crucial maintenance to school buildings,” Ramulifho said.
He said the department had underspent its R52.9bn allocation by R1.6bn.
“This clearly indicates a lack of proper planning by the department as they are aware of the infrastructure challenges facing our schools,” Ramulifho said
Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabona said Riverlea was one of the schools in the departmental plans for major upgrading in the estimates of capital expenditure, with an appropriation of R13m in the current financial year.
“It was initially identified as a school that was entirely built out of inappropriate material (asbestos). However, detailed assessments revealed that the school is not an asbestos school but rather built out of lightweight prefabricated concrete,” Mabona said.
He said the department’s infrastructure budget had been spent entirely in the past two financial years.
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