Accessing a quality education should never be a fight for survival. Put more bluntly, no child should have to risk his or her life to receive a decent education.
A school should be a sanctuary — a place where futures are built. But that is not the case for thousands of children across SA.
Pupils at Mboniselo Public Primary School in Motherwell are trapped in this reality.
About 1,000 children and 27 teachers have to contend with lootings, armed robberies and break-ins while the school remains unfenced despite more than a decade of pleas to authorities.
Its only fence was erected in 1987, when the school was built.
The school is criss-crossed with live electrical cables, with shack dwellers entering at will to use toilets or strip classrooms of doors and gates.
Footpaths clearly indicate that people living in the nearby uMjondolo informal settlement have unhindered access to the school grounds.
Parents have been forced to install 32 security cameras at a cost of R3,000 a month, shouldering the responsibility of the education department.
On top of this, principal Sydwell Temele and his staff frequently endure trauma while trying to do their jobs.
During one armed robbery at the school, seven gunmen stole tens of thousands of rand and hijacked Temele’s car.
How is it possible that in 2025, children in a no-fee public school are expected to learn under such conditions?
What does it say about the priorities of the education department?
School governing body treasurer Lisa Xakaxa said shack dwellers had on several occasions allegedly broken into classrooms and restrooms.
“Our children and teachers are not safe because we know the crime rate is already very high in Motherwell,” Xakaxa said.
Every day that passes without intervention places the school’s pupils and staff in jeopardy.
Parents said they were losing hope that education authorities would ever intervene, warning that it might take a tragedy before their calls for help were finally heard.
The failure by officials to respond effectively to the pleas of concerned teachers and parents is a sad indictment on the department.
The Herald
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