Weeks of parent-led protests at Tinley Manor and Thembeni Primary Schools have led to significant progress in addressing crumbling infrastructure and overcrowding in local schools.
The Department of Education in the iLembe district, KwaDukuza Municipality and school governing bodies met last week to discuss the pressing issues.
Tinley Manor Primary School in Etete resumed classes on Monday after a two-week closure, after they were promised five new prefabricated classrooms and renovations of four existing ones.
Read: North Coast parents protest unsafe school conditions and overcrowding.
However, Thembeni Primary School, which has been closed for nearly a month due to similar concerns, remains shut because the premises were vandalised during its closure. Parents and community leaders are currently cleaning the school to ensure it reopens next Monday.
Thembeni Primary School governing body chair, Thobani Mbambo, expressed relief that their concerns are finally being addressed and that a new school has been promised.
“Land for a new school was surveyed last Thursday and it is now included in the iLembe District budget. We have been promised that it will be built,” said Mbambo.
This development marked a significant victory for parents, he said, after their frustration with the provincial education department.
Currently, about 1 825 pupils are crammed into Thembeni Primary, which has deteriorating walls and caving roofs.
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