Eqinisweni Secondary School has been closed until further notice. The reason for the school closure is because it has been deemed unsafe for occupancy. During the first week of the lockdown, part of the school building collapsed.
When the wall is touched the building shakes. It was very close to fall on learners and educators when Matriculants went back to school after the National Lockdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The President of the Representative Council of Learners (RCL) said Mpho Soaratlhe “Firstly let me start by saying the Department of Basic Education in Johannesburg East (D9) does not care about the lives of black leaners in Ivory Park.”
“The current state of my school is a true reality of why I am saying so
The district only cares about marks and attendance stats. We attended classes in decomposed,dangerously damaged containers from 2013 up until we shut down the school in July last year.
While occupying a dangerously cracked building from 2016 till today. We reported the condition of the building to the principal before the reopening of schools and a woman named Merelyn whos heading the dipartment of infrastructure in D9 came and declared the building ”safe to occupy”
That was when the principal was forced to open the school on the 15th. On Monday (last week) the principal received a report from the engineers saying that the building is unsafe for use and that any further occupation will result in loss of the building and loss of life.”
The Department of Education said that it will appoint a construction company to fix the building. The construction is estimated to take 6 months. The Matrics are currently not going to school. However, the teachers are reporting to work as normal. It is unclear what will happen in the 6 months when the contractors have been appointed. As it is, the academic year has been disturbed by COVID-19.
Story still developing.
