Parents whose children enrolled at Relebogile Secondary School in Khutsong, West Rand, which was partially swallowed by a sinkhole, can only hope their children will return to their brick-and-mortar classrooms some time this year.
Repairs are yet to be done almost a year since parts of the school, including the toilets, collapsed into a sinkhole after heavy rains in February 2023.
A visit to the school last week showed the overgrown grass and derelict, abandoned classrooms around the schoolyard.
Schooling was interrupted for about four months of 2023 with only matriculants attending classes full-time during that period.
Teaching resumed in May when pupils were relocated to mobile classrooms at an adjacent property.
Parents, however, complained that this seemed to be a permanent move, as there had been no sign of fixing the school since the sinkhole collapse.
Fanie Monnapula, whose three children are pupils at the school, complained that the Gauteng department of education was not providing any feedback about the repairs and when pupils would return to classrooms.
“We had several meetings with government officials, but they didn’t provide any solution. Even with containers, they only provided them after we went to the head office as parents and complained,” he said.
With grades eight and nine, it is painful to say this but most of them were pushed to the next grades. They didn't get sufficient time to learn.
— Fanie Monnapula, parent of pupil at Relebogile Secondary School
He said when schooling was interrupted, only the grade 12 pupils were learning and just for about three hours a day. He said they gradually added grades 11 and 10 pupils in May and other classes only at a later stage in June.
“With grades 8 and 9, it is painful to say this, but most of them were pushed to the next grades. They didn’t get sufficient time to learn,” Monnapula said.
He said the department was not telling parents the truth about rehabilitation, and there was no communication about repairs development.
“Parents are fed up with the department, and they only want to know when their children are going back to school. This year shouldn’t end while our kids are still learning from the containers — they must go back to the proper structure,” he said.
Chairperson of the SGB Tumelo Kekana said after the sinkhole accident, geotechnical scientists inspected the school and recommended the hole be filled to avoid the severity from expanding.
He said it was disappointing that none of those recommendations were implemented, and this has affected teaching and learning at the school.
Kekana painted a dire situation at the school, saying last year, there were limited toilets to be shared by more than 1,500 pupils and about 50 teachers and staff members.
“More than 800 [pupils] were female, and you can imagine if you have more than 800 female learners sharing six toilets and more than 600 boys sharing three toilets.
“We have a big staff. We have more than 35 female teachers, including the admin staff sharing two toilets and more than 20 male teachers sharing one toilet,” he said.
He said when they spoke to the department, they were told about the department of infrastructure development being the custodian responsible for rehabilitation.
“We are in limbo, we are on our own. The office of the MEC of education has failed us dismally,” he said.
Kekana added that learning and teaching last year was strenuous, but teachers gave their all. He said they didn’t know what to expect with the matric results given the limited classroom time.
He said the matriculants were staying at home and attending classes on a rotational basis. According to him, it was only at the end of May when they returned to the mobile classes, but even then, they were not having a full school day.
He said they stopped the initially arranged rotational classes since they were not yielding the desired results, and the arrangements meant inconveniencing pupils from Khutsong South Primary School, where pupils were moved.
Kekana said they foresee a problem if the sinkhole isn’t repaired.
Another parent, Selinah Mokgwasi, said she attended one of the meetings in which issues of the sinkholes were discussed. She said the department was scheduled to check the sinkhole and provide feedback to the parents.
“We’ve been wondering what are they going to do since the school is opening. We don’t know what is happening, there is no feedback,” she said.
Department of education spokesperson Steve Mabona said the province’s department of infrastructure and development (DID), in partnership with the Merafong municipality, is addressing the matter.
He said pupils were no longer on rotation since a temporary mobile school had been erected.
“The plan is to retain the educators and learners at the temporary mobile school, fill up of the existing sinkhole and conduct a geotech science test to check on any possible emerging sinkholes, prior to occupying and using the facility,” he said.
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