Saheso farm school outside Ventersdorp in the North West province was closed early this year because it could not provide quality education and there was no support from the provincial department of education.
For two years Cornelius Mokgethi, the school principal, wrote to the department to request assistance because the school did not have proper chalkboards, the toilets were a hazard to the learners, electricity was needed to facilitate learning and the school grounds needed to be fenced.
Mokgethi tried all avenues to save the school — writing to the Human Rights Commission (HRC), the provincial minister and his head of department, Anis Karodia.
But all the principal received from the education department was advice to be patient and not to “lose heart”. Mokgethi said the school was closed essentially because there was no support from the department.
“The teachers only had classrooms and chalk to do their work. We had no water supply and depended on the mercy of the farmer for water. But even the water we received from the farmer was tested by health officials and found to be unhealthy for consumption.”
He said he wrote in desperation to the HRC. But the commission wrote back saying that the North West education department had assured the commission it would address all [the school’s] problems. In the end the school was closed because it did not provide quality education. “How could we do that under those conditions?” Mokgethi asked.
The case of Saheso is just one example of ongoing problems facing farm schools across the country.
The battle to humanise learning conditions for rural school children is a countrywide and ongoing one, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, Forgotten Schools: Right to Basic Education for Children on Farms in South Africa, released last week.
In the report, the HRW found that the South African government is failing to protect the right to a primary education for children living on commercial farms.
In South Africa there are about 3 500 farm schools classified as public schools on private property. The government has failed to provide rural children with access to these farm schools and has not maintained the standard or adequacy of learning conditions at the schools.
The HRW said this violates the South African Schools Act and general government policy, which makes education compulsory for all children up to grade nine or the age of 15.
Researchers visited farm schools across the country and interviewed teachers, children, parents, farm workers and farm owners.
They found that most schools only have a classroom, considered the most basic learning facility.
The report states: “Water and a power supply, which, in a number of cases, depend on the cooperation of the landowner, are not always available.” It also states that at some schools, fresh drinking water is not available and the lack of electricity affects administrative activities, hindering advancement in teaching.
“Some schools lack sanitation altogether, in others the facilities are inadequate.
“This report documents cases where landowners obstructed physical access to schools or frustrated their functioning by suspending water supply or closing off short [transport] routes to a school.”
The Department of Education welcomed the HRW report in a statement saying: “The study highlights the challenges that still prevail and [that] need to be tackled to ensure quality education for all South Africa learners.”
Minister of Education Naledi Pandor has committed herself to ending poor learning conditions and building about 12 000 classrooms to accommodate 400 000 learners at these schools. She said there are currently 1 800 schools that do not have proper facilities for learning.
Pandor said R200-million needs to be raised by her department to eliminate the sanitation problem.
In its statement, the department said that in February former minister of education Kader Asmal had set up a ministerial committee on rural education to review the current state of rural education and training provision.
“The committee is expected to make recommendations for a medium- to long-term strategy … to the minister by November this year.”