On a dusty plain at the edge of the township of Katlehong, on the East Rand, Thabotona primary school welcomes its pupils. The school consists of eight classrooms, including one built from fencing material and a shipping container, to accommodate its 504 pupils.
Even more unusual is the sight of almost 100 grade one pupils sitting outside in the shade of two trees. Kneeling in the red dust, using long benches as a table, they try to write sentences with pencils barely long enough to hold.
The heat in their classroom is too much for them to bear. Besides, they would never fit into it.
Inside the grade two classroom the situation is even worse. More than 70 pupils are crowded into the 36m2 room, which has no roof. Since it was blown off by the wind two weeks ago, the pupils resist the burning sun during morning classes through four umbrellas rotating across the room. For some this is not enough and they seek shelter under the tables, while trying to concentrate on the teaching material.
Teacher Judith Sibongile says she notices that the pupils forget a lot of what she teaches them because they are frustrated by the sun and by each other.
”In the afternoon we do rhymes outside, because it gets too hot inside. Even I get sick from the sun,” she says.
As midday approaches the heat in the room becomes almost unbearable. Children loosen their shirts to get some relief. They look tired and unmotivated.
Thabotona has no electricity and no water. There is a water tank, but as soon as it is filled the local community steals it because they lack water too.
”It’s very, very, very frustrating,” says Joyce Kubeka, the school’s principal.
She doesn’t even know which authority to turn to to ask for better facilities. Responsibility for the school has shifted in the past three years from the Alberton district to the Vereeniging district and back to Alberton.
”We seem to be neglected,” Kubeka says.
Margaret Webber, senior manager curriculum development of the Alberton district, says the department has made the school a priority. The major problem appears to be that it is built on private land and the owner has been untraceable for eight years.
”Without an agreement between the owner and the government our hands are tied,” Webber says.
However, action has been taken. A new school is to be built close to the Thabotona school, she says. Pupils from Thabotona can attend this school from the beginning of next year. Subsidised transport will be arranged to transport pupils who can’t walk to the new school.