The Mpumalanga Department of Education says it has arranged a meeting with parents of learners at Tiga Primary School outside Mbombela to address concerns raised by the community.
This comes after parents blockaded the school gates, disrupting learning and teaching activities.
Department spokesperson Gerald Sambo has appealed to parents to allow learners to return to class while discussions continue.
“What we want to request is that let there be cooperation so that we are able to enable the learners to continue to go back to school and continue with learning and teaching while we are looking into the concerns. We are available to engage and ensure that we receive amicable solutions that will be beneficial to both the parents and the learners as well as ensuring that learning and teaching is not further disrupted so that learners do not lose out on learning and teaching time,” Sambo said.
Sambo says the department is hopeful that the planned engagement will help resolve the matter.
“We are confident that tomorrow’s meeting will yield positive results after we have engaged in the number of issues that they will be raising.”
Governing body member Ben Ndlovu says concerns over infrastructure and learner safety have been raised with the department over several years.
Ndlovu says school representatives previously met with education officials, who promised to address the concerns.
“We were at an infrastructure meeting at Gedlembane High School, I was fortunate enough to speak to one of the departmental representatives and I raised the concern of the kitchen.”
“And they responded that it is difficult for them to build the kitchen in the meantime because they have a sequence or a programme that they are running when it comes to building infrastructure so it may take five or 10 years.”
“Sooner projects are taking five years some more than 10 years, so they promised to fix for us but up until now they haven’t done anything as yet.”
The protest follows growing frustration among parents over conditions at the school and concerns about learner safety.
The department says it remains committed to resolving concerns while ensuring that schooling continues without further disruption.
