Pretoria - There is a deeper conversation that needs to be had about the number of empty schools that could be renovated and resourced, to address the school shortage problem in Gauteng.
This is according to leader of the DA in Gauteng, Solly Msimanga, who said Tshwane had about 13 empty and abandoned schools, but every January parents and guardians struggled to find placement for their children.
Msimanga said that this week he will be travelling with the DA spokesperson for education, Khume Ramulifho, to visit Tshwane schools that have been empty for years, and which have endured vandalism because they looked like nobody cared about them.
The DA believed that these schools, if rescued – some which still have infrastructure and furniture – could be salvaged and repurposed, he said.
They could make a serious and positive difference in the lives of underprivileged parents who have to spend money they do not have to send their children to schools far from where they lived, he said. “In Atteridgeville right now there are two schools that have completely closed down.
“In Mamelodi there is a school that is now being vandalised as I am talking. In Soshanguve there are two more schools that are being vandalised because they are not occupied.
“There are zero learners going to these schools. These are the things we need to be asking questions about and addressing, because we can see parents are willing to sacrifice so much to give their children better education.
“Then the question should be, what are we doing to ensure that they do not have to go through everything they are going through, like paying high travel costs, just to make sure their children get an education.
“We are going to be engaging the department and the province, to say why should a learner be travelling more than 5km just to get an education. Why are there schools sitting empty? Some of these schools can still be utilised to address this school shortage problem.”
Msimanga spoke to the Pretoria News during a visit to Laerskool Danie Malan in Pretoria, following tensions outside the school over allegations of racial discrimination in the placement of Grade 1 pupils. He said he could establish through oversight engagements that the School Governing Body and the principal were reasonable and were willing to take more pupils above the capacity threshold.
He learnt that there were parents and guardians who sent their children from the townships to schools in areas like Pretoria North. This significantly increased the demand for school placement in these areas and highlighted the importance of having a conversation about schools that sit empty in many townships.
Ramulifho said another discussion that needed to be had was about what was being done to provide resources to schools in the townships so that parents and guardians did not need to send their children to schools in areas like Pretoria North, simply because there were more resources to support other schooling activities like sports and arts.
He said some schools were so under-resourced that they only offered academic resources and nothing inspiring for sporting activities.
“That is one of the reasons we have parents and guardians willing to leave a school next to their home just to send pupils to a school where they would be expected to pay school fees monthly. This decision would be better if it was a choice and not due to lack of resources,” said Ramulifho.
Ramulifho and Msimanga also learnt that some parents and guardians were also faking proof of a home address just to get their children admitted to certain schools.
Pretoria News