The Limpopo Department of Education would like to put the following facts on the above mentioned article.
1. The Department of Education received an application for the establishment of a school with a proposed name Selowe Primary School from the community of Silvermine in Blouberg municipality on 9 September 2011.
2. On 3 November 2011, the department then conducted a feasibility study to determine the need for a primary school in the village as per application. The feasibility study showed a need for a school in the village. For the establishment of a school the department needs to plan for the following:
- Infrastructure provisioning
- Learner Teacher Support Materials (LTSM) provisioning
- Deployment of educators
- Norms and standards provisioning
- Water and sanitation
All of the above are key to the establishment of a new school and would not be possible to complete in few months.
3. On the 12 December 2011, the community of Silvermine sent a delegation of about 15 members to Malebogo West Circuit office demanding the approval of their application and threatening that they will withdraw their children from neighbouring schools. The schools are: Kgwale Primary school (which is less than 4 kilometers from Silvermine) and Seanego Primary school (which is about 6 kilometers from the village).
4. On 17 January 2012, the departmental officials held a meeting with the community of Silvermine to give them progress on their application and to indicate to them that it would not be possible to establish the school this year (2012); however their application is receiving attention from the Head of department. The only possible solution would be to provide transport for their children to both Kgwale and Seanego primary schools. The community rejected the scholar transport option and demanded an immediate establishment of a school.
5. On 18 January 2012, the community of Silvermine prohibited their children who are registered learners of Seanego and Kgwale primary schools. The community then established an illegal school in a shack and under trees in the village. They did this against the advice of the department and vowed not to take their children to their registered schools in the neighbouring villages.
6. This ‘school’ is mend by unqualified teachers from the community, who ‘teach’ children from Grade R-7 under trees as shown in the article. There is no single qualified teacher as purported by the article. Therefore, it would be wrong to say that ‘Selowe Primary School’ exists, has a ‘principal’ and ‘volunteer teachers’, and it is not possible that they could offer a recognised curriculum. Based on that the department is under no obligation to pay anybody who is ‘teaching’ these children.
7. In February, MEC Namane Dickson Masemola sent officials to the village to plead with them to reconsider their decision and recommitted the department to provide a reliable scholar transport to the learners. This meeting was also attended by local councilors of Blouberg municipality. Again, the community rejected this option.
8. Since then there has been several meetings with community representatives in an endeavor to resolve this impasse. MEC Namane Dickson Masemola, on 23 May 2012 sent a delegation to the traditional offices to meet with the Traditional Council of Kgoshi Maleboho to explain the situation and to seek for his intervention.
9. The department has done everything possible to impress upon the community of Silvermine and the parents of our learners to take them back to the neighboring schools were they are registered, but they refused. The department remains hopeful that the intervention by Kgoshi Maleboho will assist in this situation. Otherwise, the department will be left with no other option but to seek other alternatives which are legally enforceable.
10. The Limpopo Department of Education is committed to the provisioning of quality public education to our communities. The department remains committed to the resolution of this problem.
As such the department has already done the following:
- approved the establishment of ‘Selowe Primary School’ at Silvermine with effect from January 2013.
- sought quotations for the immediate provision of scholar transport
- engaged with Blouberg municipality to upgrade the roads in that village.
11. The department remains positive that the community of Silvermine would have a different view of the matter and allow the department to provide quality public education to their children and our learners.
For more information please contact:
Pat Kgomo
Cell: 072 573 0888
