Anger as all the pupils in three grades fail at Durban school

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Durban - The parents of pupils at a Durban primary school protested after learning that all the children in three grades had failed their first-term exams. Members of the Quarry Heights Primary School governing body (SGB) said pupils in Grades 1, 5 and 6 have had no teachers since the start of the academic year, and that was the main reason for the failure. “The school has 1091 pupils and only 21 teachers, because three have been on leave since the year started,” SGB member Elizabeth Nxumayo said. It is alleged that one of the teachers is on maternity leave and the others are on sick leave. Nxumayo said teachers had to teach more than 50 pupils at a time, and had to monitor the three classes without teachers.

Another SGB member, Bonginkosi Ndlela, said he was upset at how the department was handling the issue.

“We have faxed letters, called and tried numerous times to get the department out to the school to see what teachers are dealing with every day. There are too many pupils.”

He said the children were suffering.

“How can we not be educated, and then our children not be educated either?” asked Ndlela.

Duncan Khuboni, a parent of one of the failed pupils, said he was very disappointed when his child told him he had not had a teacher since the year began.

Fail

Parent Lindiwe Mtshali said the pupils were bound to fail because they had not had teachers.

“How can we expect the kids to pass when there is no one in the class with them?” she asked.

The parents felt the department would have reacted much faster if the problem had occurred in a suburban school.

Thirona Moodley, chief executive officer of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA KZN, said the department’s implementation of a new protocol in employing teachers had resulted in a delay in hiring.

However, it was unacceptable for the delay to last a whole term, she said.

“Those pupils have not been assessed the whole term, which will impact on them negatively towards the end of the year,” Moodley said.

She also questioned the commitment of the government to make sure pupils always had a teacher in class with them.

Vee Gani, chairperson of the Parents’ Association of KZN, said the department should find the cause of the issue, because Quarry Heights was only one of many schools that needed more teachers.

Kwazi Mthethwa, spokesperson for the KZN Education Department, said: “We are asking those protesters to allow space for pupils to be taught and not to take matters into their own hands.”

Mthethwa added that overcrowding in schools was a result of teachers and principals accepting pupils even when there was no place available, but that was an issue the department was working tirelessly to try to resolve.

Daily News