Cape Town — Seven classrooms at Tosca Primary School in the Kagisano Molopo municipality in the North West were allegedly set alight by community members.
The classrooms were equipped with school equipment, files and textbooks and the incident arose after the Department of Employment and Labour closed a block of three classrooms last Tuesday due to concerns over the poor standard of facilities. Angry members of the members tried to close the school on Friday, TimesLIVE reported.
The North West department of education has committed to delivering mobile classrooms on Monday to assist with teaching and learning.
According to the department’s spokesperson, Mphata Molokwane, people entered the school and burnt the classrooms, furniture, files and textbooks and damaged grade R equipment.
Community members burn seven classrooms at Tosca Primary School in the North West #education #NWeducation pic.twitter.com/DjZG8ejGOo
— Yoliswa Sobuwa (@YoliswaSobuwa) April 22, 2024
Condemning the incident, education MEC Viola Motsumi said: “This is extremely sad and disturbing. It is disturbing there are still communities in this province who vent their anger by burning school property. A school is a centre of knowledge for the community. How do we expect pupils to acquire information when we burn schools?”
“Pupils have lost five days of learning and teaching. We have lost all the records of pupils due to this horrible incident. We condemn this incident in the strongest terms and call for the immediate arrest of all those behind the fire.” Motsumi said.
Molokwane said counsellors from the department has been put on standby to counsel pupils and teachers as soon as teaching and learning resumes.
According to East Coast Radio, Molokwane said the department dispatched a team of officials to meet with community leaders on Sunday (21/4) to find an amicable solution. He added the department is committed to delivering mobile classrooms on Monday to assist with teaching and learning.
A team of counsellors from the department has been put on standby to counsel learners and teachers as soon as teaching and learning resumes.
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Picture: X/@YoliswaSobuwa
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
