‘Give children time to focus on studies’
The Limpopo MEC of Education, Ishmael Kgetjepe, has urged parents to give students time to study rather than to do household chores.
LIMPOPO –Â He was speaking at a provincial Imbizo held at Muduvula Stadium, outside Malamulele.
He said many parents give children work at home such as washing dishes, cleaning and going to bore-holes to fetch water while they don’t allow them time to study.
“We humbly request parents to give our learners time to study, because as exams begin, a child who has had to fetch water from boreholes will be tired and go to sleep without studying.” said Kgetjepe
He said the department has provided free transport to learners travelling 5 km to school. The department needs R20 billion to build and refurbish all schools in the province, not including schools damaged in Vuwani, which needs R500 million to repair.
“We have a backlog in terms of infrastructure, we have visited all schools in the area and the challenges that we face in our schools is one of proper buildings with most of the schools being built a long time ago and just needing refurbishing. We need R20 billion to repair all the schools, not including the ones damaged in Vuwani during the shutdown, there we ask all stakeholders especially the business community, to help us to raise funds. ” he said.
He visited Tlangelani High School which was built in 1923 and is dilapidated and promised that the department would refurbish the historic school after parents in the area had pleaded with him to go and see the school himself.
“This is unacceptable for learners to learn in such conditions and we pledge to help renovate this school because these classroom are dilapidated and could collapse during rainy seasons.” he said.
He also urged for calm in the Vuwani and Malamulele areas and to stop the burning of schools which disturbs learners writing their examinations.
John Khosa, a parent, applauded the MEC for visiting the school and indicated that they are confident that the department will assist them because they were so scared that classrooms might collapse on the children.
12 schools were burned in the Malamulele area due to political unrest between Malamulele and Vuwani area over the merge to form one municipality which includes Malamulele, Vuwani and Hlanganani area after Malamulele residents wanted to move out of Thulamela Municipality which they claimed channelled service delivery to Tshivenda-speaking people and not Xitsonga-speaking people. 29 schools were burned in the Vuwani area.
