Ghost Schools - A drain on the economy

Ghost Schools - A drain on the economy 

The DA notices with concern the continuous closure of farm schools and the relocation of learners to schools with boarding facilities throughout the Mpumalanga Province.

On a recent oversight visit to schools in the province, the DA came across a school in Meka Meka, namely the Kangela School in the Nkomazi municipal area. This school opened with great flair in 2011 and was operational for only 6 months when the DBE resolved that it would be more appropriate to close the school and have these learners relocated to Shongwe School in the same district.

Shongwe School is suffering the consequences of this move, as there are between 70 and 80 learners in some of the classes. No teacher is able to properly teach a class of this number and so too will the school not be able to have a good pass rate at the end of 2014.

The DA is deeply concerned with the disregard for family structures and secondly the wasteful and fruitless expenditure of schools by the department which have now been abandoned.  Children have uprooted from their daily routine and the support structure of a home and family and placed in overcrowded boarding schools.  The emotional implications on these children will surely affect their learning abilities and put strain on their education.

It has come to the attention of the DA that the expenditure on scholar transport is at the root of these closures.  The Department of Education would rather uproot communities, families and children in order to save on scholar transport.

Furthermore, the school desks that have left discarded in the old school building is an indication of the wasteful expenditure that is ripe in the Department of Education. While so many schools are without desks and chairs, these are lying unused in a deserted building.

This school was also provided with a well built and equipped kitchen for their National School Nutrition Programme, but all that remains is the building, which has now been inhabited by squatters.

The DA will submit parliamentary questions to the MEC of Education to do a complete cost analysis on the number of schools which have been closed down. It is clear that the process of the building of schools and the subsequent closing thereof was not thoroughly thought through.