Patrick Ramaano Secondary School's Governing Body (SGB) say they are not happy that schools must continue with the rotational timetable set out according to the Covid-19 regulations, as they believe it has a negative impact on learning and teaching.
The MEC for Basic Education, Polly Boshielo, visited the school on 13 January 2022 as part of the department's monitoring programme on the reopening of schools and, in partnership with the Department of Health, addressing schools' SGBs to also encourage learners to get vaccinated.
During the visit, Mr Albert Malisha, the SGB chairperson, expressed the school's concerns and challenges. "The school has an enrolment of 2 186 learners. Only Grade 12 learners attend classes every day. The Grade 11s attend classes three days a week, while the rest only attend classes twice a week. We feel learners lose a lot of learning time and that it will affect their performance," said Malisha.
On another matter, Malisha said that in 2018, the school was advised by the department to refrain from using one of the blocks of classrooms, as it had cracks and could endanger learner's lives. They (the department) promised to restore the block, but nothing had come of it.
He further pointed out that, while the school had 68 educators, no administration block existed for them. The educators use a block of classrooms to work from. "If the department could build an administration block for the teachers, there would be more classrooms available to the learners."
Malisha also pleaded with the department to fill the position for an administrative clerk, which has been vacant since 2020, and to provide furniture for the learners. "As it is, we have to improvise for learners to have desks to work on," he said.
But MEC Boshielo said the department did not have a budget at the moment to meet the school's demands. "We are currently looking at schools that were storm damaged. Remember, we have more than 3 700 schools in the province. Most of them have problems and we have to focus on all of them," she said.
Regarding the rotational timetable, Boshielo admitted that it does not provide quality education but said that schools would have to continue as per the Covid-19 regulations for the time being.