Johannesburg - The MEC for Education in KwaZulu-Natal, Mbali Frazer has issued a directive that all the desks and chairs be delivered to Skofill Secondary School in Bulwer before February 17.
This comes after pupils got into a fist-fight over lack of school furniture. The incident happened on Friday and an educator who tried to stabilise the situation was allegedly assaulted.
It is believed that the school has a huge shortage of desks and chairs and pupils sometimes attend classes while standing for the whole day.
Frazer convened an urgent meeting with all relevant stakeholders at the school on Tuesday to address the matter, including representatives from the Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma Local Municipality, local traditional authorities and members of the community.
According to the department, the MEC received a report during the meeting that indicated that the school had a shortage of desks in some of the classrooms.
“This was reported to be the cause of the tensions between learners as they allegedly fought over the available desks,” it said.
“MEC Frazer was left disturbed by the report that the school management never submitted a request for the additional desks to the relevant section of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education.
“She was also informed that several maintenance issues at Skofill Secondary School had not been reported to the Department either. Some of the maintenance matters were said to be as a result of crime and vandalism,” the department said.
Frazer has condemned the alleged violent incident and ordered that all the required school furniture must be delivered at the school.
She also mentioned that the renovations of the school should be prioritised and further that two mobile classrooms should also be delivered to the school before the end of February 2023.
“No learner must feel discouraged to attend school because of the shortage of desks and chairs,” she said.
The department said all the learners who were engaged in the fight would face internal disciplinary hearing for their actions.
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