Cobras and green mambas endanger the lives of children at a ”jungle school” in KwaZulu-Natal, the principal complained on Thursday.
”You can’t leave your teaching aids in the classes because the monkeys run in and destroy everything. They even run in and steal our lunchboxes or play on the roofs while we trying to give lessons. It’s a real jungle school,” said Anastacia Mhlongo, principal of Engweni Primary School in the Dukuduku forest near Mtubatuba.
She has four teachers and 117 children at the school, which is a deserted defence force training camp in the forest, 3km from the nearest road.
Mhlongo said the place has no electricity, windows or doors and the classrooms are so small that their only male teacher — a tall man — has to present his lessons from the doorway.
The grade-one pupils are at first scared of the monkeys, and teachers driving to school have nearly run over duiker.
Mhlongo said the school first received an eviction order from the South African National Defence Force last February because it wanted to re-occupy the base in January this year. However, the provincial department of education has still not found alternative premises for the school.
”Saving money is more important to them. They are not concerned about the safety of the children,” said Mhlongo.
She said last year she had to look for a site to relocate the school after they were promised mobile caravan schools.
On Tuesday, the school was again visited by a provincial department of education official who said the mobile schools are too expensive and that the department is building a proper school, which will house Engweni and two other schools.
On Thursday, this was confirmed by the spokesperson for the department’s Zululand region, Thuli Thulsi, who said the new school will be built in Kwa Delunina just outside Mtubatuba, to be ready by the end of March.
Mhlongo said the school has been in the current training camp since 1999. Before that, it was in a camp belonging to 121 Battalion on the other side of the forest. She said Engweni Primary started in 1984 when the defence force approached her to give literacy classes to some of their members.
Later, the defence force applied for a proper school to accommodate the children. Last year, Engweni had 180 pupils but the number has fallen because of the conditions.
”But our children do so well when they go the high schools. Some parents even take their children out of other schools to come here because my staff is very good,” said Mhlongo.
The school only has two toilets, which are shared by all.
More than once, children have run out of toilets after spotting cobras in them.
Mhlongo said the defence force has given the school a temporary reprieve but told them to be out by June when the base will be turned into accommodation for members of the South African Police Service. — Sapa