Zululand schools face closure
The objective is to ensure that learners get quality education
SOME schools in the uThungulu district will be closed for good.
That was the disturbing confirmation by the Department of Education’s District Director, David Chonco, reacting to a report tabled in Parliament by the Chairperson of the Basic Education Portfolio Committee, Nomalungelo Gina.
According to the report 474 schools countrywide will be closed down, while some will be merged.
Already 240 schools have been closed, while 178 are in the process of being merged into one school.
In KZN 28 schools will be closed down completely.
‘I can confirm we do have schools in uThungulu that will have to be closed down because of non-viability. We are doing this as part of the Transformation of the Schooling System Programme, which started in 2012 when Premier Senzo Mchunu was still the MEC for Education,’ said Chonco.
He said the objective of this exercise was to ensure that learners get quality education, adding that most schools were struggling to attract the required enrollment.
‘In Nkandla alone we have a school of three teachers teaching 30 learners, and that cannot be called a school in reality. In uMhlathuze we have two schools separated by a fence. One has 12 empty classrooms, while the other is filled to capacity. So we are still negotiating with all relevant stakeholders to have these two schools incorporated into one.
‘Some of these schools will be converted to a secondary school, while others will be positioned so as to offer specialised skills like maritime studies, aviation and mining, and some will be converted to fully-fledged technical high schools. Velangaye High School in Nkandla will become an agricultural school.
‘This exercise requires us to engage with the community as some of these schools were built by them. Part of this programme also includes renaming some schools who have uninspiring names that does not motivate a culture of learning.
‘To have a school like Manyala Primary School does not add any value in fostering a culture of learning and teaching.
‘Some of them were named after traditional leaders, and we only need to add an element of respect in those names. It is not correct to have a school called Mgitshwa. Instead that school must be known as Inkosi Mgitshwa,’ he said.
