Learners being taught under trees as Limpopo school waits for classrooms to be fixed
Classroom block was destroyed by wind three years ago
A classroom block destroyed by wind in 2021 has not been rebuilt. Photo: Thembi Siaga
Some classes at H S Phillips Secondary School in Limpopo are taking place under trees, as the school waits for the provincial education department to build new classrooms.
The school, 30km from Louis Trichardt in Shirley, was built in 1932 by missionaries, and originally had two classroom blocks. One block, with five classrooms, was destroyed by heavy winds in 2021.
This year, the administration office in the remaining block was also destroyed by wind. The roofs of the remaining classrooms are damaged and parents fear for their children as the rainy season approaches. “We are afraid that the roof might collapse on our children, as the ceiling is already falling apart,” said Sesiliya Mabasa, parent of a Grade 8 learner.
The education department provided the school with five temporary mobile classrooms in 2021, but there is still not enough room and some learners have to be taught under trees, says the chair of the School Governing Body, Clematina Maphahla.
Though the school had a matric pass rate of nearly 75% in 2023, enrolment has dropped from about 700 in 2017 to 228 in 2024.
The school kitchen is in a shack. There are 13 dilapidated Enviro Loo toilets for learners, with no doors. There are taps at the toilets fed by water tanks.
Reginald Maluleke, deputy chair of the SGB, said several letters had been sent to the education department in Polokwane, but the department had only made verbal promises.
“Last April, when we inquired about the feedback, they told us that if the number of learners continues to decline, they will merge the school with other nearby schools,” said Maluleke.
Mosebjane Kgaffe, spokesperson for the provincial education department, said this was not the case. She said if a merger were contemplated the SGB would be given 90 days to make representations to the MEC.
Kgaffe said the school had been assessed in 2017 and in 2019 pit latrines had been eradicated. A follow-up report had been compiled in 2021 and the school had received five mobile classrooms “as a temporary solution of the infrastructure challenges”.
She said the school was on the department’s priority list. Asked what that meant and when the school would be fixed, Kgaffe did not provide details.
None of the learners’ toilets have doors. Photo: Thembi Siaga
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