Dormant La Rochelle Primary School reopened

LA ROCHELLE – Parents, Councillors, NGOs and representatives of the Johannesburg government arrived early in the morning, accompanying children to the reopening of the long-abandoned La Rochelle Primary School, on Wednesday January 15 as South African schools officially reopened from the summer school holidays.

The school located at La Rochelle, south of Johannesburg, is reported to have been abandoned for approximately 25 years before it was taken over by the Rest Haven Ministries NGO, who left the premises of the school six months ago. The school is reopened to accommodate the young pupils who would otherwise be exposed to the risk of travelling to the outermost area of La Rochelle every morning of their school days.

Although the people of the community of La Rochelle acknowledged that the community is resident to drug dealers and criminal behaviour, many seemed confident that the school will manoeuvre the pupils onto the right path. “We are very happy that the government has shown this community support; we appreciate it,” said Cynthia Masanga, parent of one of the learners.

“I am excited. It’s about time something happened. Well done to the teachers, I want to wish you luck,” said Councillor Bev Turk of Ward 57, who made the teachers and guests cheer. “The teachers should look after my children because these children are as much mine as they may be yours,” she added.

The school, which is still being refurbished, seems to be in a good condition for learning and made many of the parents happy. The reopening of the school received assistance from numerous hardworking people from the departments of the MECs and the Local Cleaning Programme.

“I must indicate that it was a challenge to commit myself to this task. I was listening to (Minister of Basic Education) Angie Motshekga, who said we cannot give learners 100 per cent, sometimes the three percent goes to the teachers. So I am also saying the same, we are at 95 per cent in terms of readiness,” said Thomas Mokeke, Principal of the school.

“Most of the stuff was done by teachers, in terms of taking the chairs and learner books to the classes. At around 16:00 yesterday (Tuesday January 15), we were sweeping the surrounding area to make sure that we are ready today. Some of the parents were saying it is not our responsibility. But commitment of government starts with us, so we committed ourselves to the task,” he said.

According to the principal, the school must have 440 learners but at present they have around 350 learners. The school staff currently consists of one administrator, two general assistants and nine educators. There will be 11 classes, but so far only eight are occupied. The school has grade-one to grade-five classes; no grade-six and seven.

The school will have five patrol officers to secure the premises and ensure safety and security for the learners. The school has received nutritional meals for learners although utensils have not yet been delivered, and the flooring has not yet been completed.

“We have a minor challenge; we have communicated with the contractor about electricity, but we do not know what the challenge might be. But he indicated he will act swiftly and we will have electricity in the entire building.We want to thank everybody for the support. We are ready to resume with learning and teaching today,” said the principal.

Nonetheless, the school had one broken window, out of reach of children, and devil-fork fencing, separating the school from the privately owned playground. However, MEC of Sport, Art and Culture Lebogang Maile made it clear that they will initiate an agreement that allow the learners to use the playground.

MEC of Infrastructure Development Qedani Mahlangu thanked the assembled teachers and parents for their support and encouraged the parents to take responsibility for their children’s education and help them with their homework.