Learners from William Hills Secondary School, in Actonville, embarked on a peaceful protest on February 6, claiming a shortage of teachers since the beginning of the year has brought the school to a learning standstill.
Earlier today the City Times was on site and discovered the causes for the discontent among learners ranged from teacher shortages, lack of sufficient textbooks and a lack of cleaning staff which, learners feel, is causing unsanitary conditions.
Learners handed a handwritten petition addressed to the district Department of Education to the City Times.
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BREAKING NEWS: Lack of teachers sparks peaceful protest at William Hill Secondary in Actonville
They highlighted the following issues:
• Learners from Grade Eight to 12 are without a mathematics teacher.
• Subjects also affected by staff shortages include physical sciences, economics, Afrikaans and physical education.
• Learners claim they have written “countless” letters to the district office stating the issues they face but no viable outcome has been established by authorities.
• They stated that they followed through on protocol in terms of escalating the matter, thus ensuring all relevant parties were aware of the issues.
• Teachers and textbooks are scarce resources.
• A high turnover of principals at the school has led to a breakdown in communication.
• Initially the learners were told to wait 10 days before a solution could be found. It is now a month later and no solution is forthcoming.
The learner who handed over the petition stated that the decision to stage a protest was taken solely by them, the learners, and said teachers and other staff members were not a part of the decision or actions taken.
“We will continue with our strike until the Department of Education sends teachers to accommodate all of us,” was the consensus taken by the learners.
While chanting and singing on the premises, the representative council of learners, leading the learners, placed emphasis on what they called “fighting for their education”.
“We are not doing this for the fun of it,” they said.
“We are doing this only for the education we deserve.”
Department response:
While the City Times is still awaiting an official comment from the Department of Education regarding the matter, institutional development and support official (IDSO) Pamela Belwane and other officials from the department were on scene to address learners.
The following could be established:
• The department is concerned about the staff shortages and about Grade 12s not being taught.
• Afternoon classes will come into effect for Grade 12 learners due to lost time on the syllabus.
• Teachers from neighbouring schools in the district will be asked to facilitate learning at William Hills until a permanent solution can be found.
• A possible solution would be to send matric learners to other schools in the interim.
• The memorandum from learners will be taken to the district director.
• They asked that learners bear with them until a “tangible solution can be established on February 12”.
• Learners were told that finding an overnight solution to the problem is not possible as solutions to problems of this nature usually take around 14 days to generate, but that the department understands the severity of the matter and the issue will be escalated.
• Overcrowding in schools, especially in Grade Eight classes, was also acknowledged.
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