The community it is supposed to serve has moved on, just as the farm school is given new life writes Julia Grey
‘WFor thirteen years, Dikeledi Nthethe and Caroline Shai have gone about the business of teaching local farm children in the dilapidated stone building they called school. For accommodation, the two teachers lived in the remains of the crumbling stone buildings in the veld behind the school.
But in the middle of last year, their lives took a dramatic turn for the better when the Free State Department of Education built a spanking new school for them. The new school has two classrooms, a staff room or storage area, and run-around room galore for the youngsters.
The efforts of the department, together with the farmer’s wife, Anna Marie van Niekerk (herself a former teacher), have transformed their lives to the point that Shai says quite contentedly, “We’re running short of nothing”. She also points out improvements in her life as an educator that aren’t always obvious – like the fact that she can now dress up in smart white outfits to work, which was previously impossible in the filthy old school. So satisfied are these two teachers, that even the lack of amenities such as running water and electricity are hardly seen as major problems.
As with many farmschools though, one hardship for learners and educators alike is transport. For the children it means long walks from the surrounding farms, and for the teachers (who have recently moved back to live with their families) it means taxi fare of R250 a month to and from the nearest town of Ficksburg.
But while things are a whole lot peachier at the school than in the past, there is a twist in the tale. The authorities waited for so long to provide them with an improved school that, in the meantime, “many of the parents have moved to the location. The numbers of enrolments at the school are declining from year to year”, says Shai.
This process of migration – which is a current trend at many farms – has left a meagre 27 students at the school. Because of the provincial norm for the teacher: pupil ratio, one of these two teachers is in excess and is likely to be redeployed.
Shai, who as principal of the school will be the one to stay behind, is not enthused by the prospect of going it alone. But, she says, “for the sake of the children I will struggle to carry on for one or two years. But after that …”
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, January, 2001.