Mbuyisi Mgibisa finds that converted buses may be tomorrow’s classrooms for Eastern Cape rural schools
Deep in the rural area of Transkei, 35 kilometres from Umtata, Vukani Senior Primary School still experiences a shortage of textbooks and furniture as well as the need to renovate classrooms.
School principal, Mavis Nomvuyo Ngxambula says the school received its stationery quota early this year from the Department of Education, “but it’s not enough for the large number of pupils we have at the school.” For 285 pupils, Vukani has five full-time teachers and five classrooms. Three of them are mud-made classrooms which are rapidly crumbling, and the iron roofs let in rain. The other two are converted old buses.
The poor conditions and lack of funds at Vukani Senior Primary School has affected the performance of learners, explains Ngxambula and the construction of additional classrooms would provide them with a better learning environment. After waiting in vain for government assistance, teachers and parents decided toconvert old buses into classrooms. Unused buses were donated by bus-company Broadway. Vukani local authorities, together with the school administration, collected R10 from each family to buy school chairs for the children.
School government body representative Sicelo Maxhakas says: “As a community, we should establish strong expectations for student performance based on academic literacy, social competency, civic responsibility, occupational opportunity, and technical proficiency. Investment in public education is the key to developing young minds and giving all of South African’s children a chance to excel.”
Eastern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Phapama Mfenyana says the department recently embarked on a initiative to focus education resources in those areas that have previously disadvantaged and poorly resourced.
“It is important to recognise that this initiative cannot thrive without also nurturing the underdeveloped human talent in these distressed areas. We must have new minds for new markets if we are serious about truly improving the conditions of poor communities throughout South Africa.”
Not surprisingly, “there is a growing cry for greatly increased funding of our public schools,” with the “obvious conclusion that more money will make our schools better,” says Mfenyana. He argues that although sometimes, this true, “throwing good money after bad would be the worst investment we could make. Instead, he said his department calls for focusing on more fundamental issues, such as increasing parental involvement in schools and strengthening community involvement.
Mfenyana says due to a shortage of classrooms as well as the need to renovate schools throughout the province, it is impossible for the Department of Education to alleviate these needs overnight.
Although the story of Vukani could be just another sad tale about children suffering under a financially-strained education department and although their hopes for better facilities remain, the valuable lessons the community and teachers have learnt in doing things for themselves have already gone some way towards brightening the light at the end of the tunnel.
— The Teacher/M&G Media, Johannesburg, July 2001.