Johannesburg - The Roodepoort Primary School, which has been marred by acts of violence and disruptions, is expected to re-open next week Tuesday with learning and teaching to resume on Wednesday.
This was among the recommendations from Roodepoort Primary School mediation committee, which were announced on Friday during the hand-over of a report to Gauteng Premier David Makhura and Education MEC Panyaza Lusufi.
The mediation committee was convened by MEC Lesufi with the concurrence of Premier Makhura on 19 August 2015 to make inputs towards understanding the nature of the problem and resolving the problems at the school.
During consultations with various stakeholders including parents, school staff, parents of learners and the Davidsonville community, a number of concerns were raised. These include process for the appointment of the principal and deputies, mismanagement of the school finances, marginalization of the Coloured community, racial discrimination, safety and security at the school and declining performance of learners, amongst others.
Other concerns raised, which were not education related, included high level of unemployment which leads to other social ills like drug abuse. The community also felt that they are being marginalised from development processes.
Presenting the report , committee member Dr Molefe Tsele said based on the complexities of matters presented to the mediation committee, they decided to identify and prioritise matters that are in the best interest of learners, which required immediate attention and matters that may require broader intervention.
“During consultative meetings, it became apparent that the temporary arrangement for learning and teaching to take place at Lufhereng in Protea Glen, while it enjoys the support of some parents, it didn’t adequately address the interest of all learners.
“It infringes on the rights of learners to learning. The committee further noted with the temporary arrangements to transport learners as it has high security and liability risks and also financial costs for the state and thus not viable option,” Dr Tsele reported.
Prescribed conditions
The school will be reopened under prescribed conditions, including school infrastructure focusing on in availability of amenities for effective learning and teaching, availability of learner training and support material, effective teaching by the full teaching staff, safety and security as well as financial costs.
The prescribed conditions also include ongoing counselling to be available to both learners and teachers. It further proposed that an experience senior independent resource person be identified to support and mentoring to the school and the team.
Premier Makhura welcomed the report and accepted all recommendation on the way forward.
He emphasised that the decision to close the school was not taken lightly, adding that they said they would only agree to re-open the school if there’s not going to be a potential for violence.
“We are satisfied with the report and the backing of various stakeholders. We know there are outstanding issues identified by the report, but the re-opening of the school is our priority. We will continue to monitor the developments in the community.
“The MEC is going to follow up on issues of security and put together a special programme to support learners as they have lost a lot of time,” Premier Makhura said.
Once the school re-opens, the provincial government will set up a community outreach programme, where Premier Makhura would come with the MEC and sit with the community to deal with socio economic conditions in the area.
Community members, who also attended the handing over of the report, also accepted the report and thanked the committee for their hard work. – SAnews.gov.za
