Pretoria school kids still waiting for textbooks while adults squabble

Persistent squabbles between the school governing body (SGB) and the principal of a Pretoria school have resulted in grade 8 learners being stuck without textbooks, two months into the new year.

Disgruntled parents and SGB members of Saulridge Secondary School in Atteridgeville were calling on Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi to save their school from anarchy.

They blamed the school principal of not cooperating with the body, resulting in poor infrastructure, lack of school resources, and a dismal pass rate. The school was one of the worst performing schools in Atteridgeville, having a 64.8% matric pass rate last year.

Now, after months of trying to procure textbooks for the 2020 academic year, the parents and SGB members, who requested anonymity, said the education district office attempted to intervene, but still failed in solving their challenges. According to the whistleblowers, the SGB was not given the opportunity to follow the correct processes.

“We struggle to procure stationery and textbooks for the learners. Every time the SGB tries to resolve the issue, we are evaded until it is decided to rope in the district office to resolve our issues. But the district didn’t address our internal issues, instead they saw the opportunity to rope in their own service provider.”

“In November 2019, district said because we failed to procure, they had the powers to take over.”

Close to R300 000 was paid to a service provider in December. According to the Gauteng education department, the period for procuring learner and teacher equipment was between May and August.

Since then, learners have still not received their textbooks. Education department spokesperson Steve Mabona said 230 textbooks were still outstanding. However, it was not the district office’s fault, he said.

“Not all learners received textbooks. There are 230 Grade 8 books which are outstanding and the delay is with the publishers… It should be noted that procurement of textbooks is a top up from the stock that is already available at the school. Also, the Grade 8 numbers increased with more than 100 learners compared to 2019 and the school did not anticipate that,” Mabona said.

While Mabona insisted that other grades were sorted, a parent told The Citizen that their Grade 10 child still has no textbooks or stationery.

The parent, who once sent a letter to Lesufi in 2018 with a list of grievances about the school, claimed educators were also not in classrooms and was concerned about his child’s future at the school.

“As parents, what should we do? Our kids are failing and we are expected to just keep quiet. How can I keep quiet when my child keeps failing?” he told The Citizen.

The school infrastructure was also in a dilapidated state, with broken doors, uneven floors, live wires hanging out from the ceilings, and desk tops used to patch up broken parts of the classroom ceilings. According to the SGB members, this was due to no budgeting and maintenance.

Mabona said the education district office would respond by disbanding the SGB due to its dysfunctionality.

“The SGB do not have any policies and no financial policy nor a budget for 2019 and 2020. They operated without a budget. They failed to submit the Audit Financial Statement for 2018 which was due on the 20 June 2019.”

The SGB members, in turn, have passed the blame to the school’s management.

“We are not consulted and that is not right,” said an anonymous member.

“We are just called to sign blank cheques without being told what it is for. It is disheartening when we complain to the district office and they look at us like idiots. Due to the squabbles in the school, the SGB does not function. We call on MEC Lesufi to save us from anarchy.”
rorisangk@citizen.co.za

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