Johannesburg - Parents and teachers have petitioned the Gauteng Department of Basic Education to intervene in their fight to eliminate gangsterism and drug use at Altmont Technical High School in Protea South, Soweto.
It is reported that incidents of gangsterism between various warring factions have once again resurfaced at the Soweto school, which only managed to achieve a matric pass rate of 76%.
Parents gathered outside to find solutions to the myriad issues affecting effective schooling at the school.
The school’s principal, Mandu Mafata, narrated her frustrations on Monday over the unending issues affecting the school, while parents gathered outside as they pondered their situation during a readiness inspection conducted by the DA's provincial education spokesperson Khume Ramulifho.
“We do indeed have an issue of gangsterism here at the school. These kids fight like cats and dogs and use just about anything, from chairs to knives to other weapons; this issue is serious and requires urgent attention. We need more than just a few police officers to manage the situation, but we need the army to come and help us,” Mafata said.
Mafata said she was facing numerous challenges, and the resurfacing of gangsterism has made things worse for her and members of her staff. She said that she and the school governing body (SGB) are not on the same page as they constantly harass and insult her.
“Me and the SGB are not on the same page. The issue of gangsterism, which resurfaced again last week, has made things even worse because we have not been able to sit down and map a way forward to ensure that we get down to what we need to do to return the school to normality. Unfortunately, some of the parents decided to take the matter into their own hands and called the community to come to the school without engaging the school management about it,“ she said.
A SGB member said parents had failed to attend a meeting to address the issues facing the school.
“You parents are dishonest and are quick to blame the SGB and the school when you yourselves failed to attend a meeting you had called to address matters,” they said.
A concerned parent, Walter Mnisi, said there was no time to defend the SGB, saying the meeting between parents, teachers, and the SGB would help some of the issues, including the dismal performance of learners and drugs and gangsterism.
“The meeting between us as parents and the SGB will help in solving some of the issues, including what happened during the exams and how we can improve the situation,” Mnisi said.
Another parent reiterated a call for police visibility at the school, saying more needs to be done to ensure learner and teacher safety at the school.
“We need more police visibility at the school as it has become clear that drugs and gangsterism are big problems at this school. We welcome the commitment made by the member of the DA (Ramulifho) who has called for such measures to be taken into account.”
Ramulifho said that he would be writing to Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane to seek intervention in the matters affecting the school and its readiness for the academic year 2023.
The department had not responded to questions on matter by the time of publication, but last year the MEC had called for heightened community safety after a parent was killed at another Soweto school, also in Protea, where his child attended school.
The Star