Enrollment challenges tarnish Moutse school

MOUTSE – Turmoil has marred the admission of learners from Njinga Sindane Primary and OR Tambo Secondary Schools in Moutse East within the Sekhukhune district.

According to sources, the debacle has since therefore been directed to the responsible circuit manager for attention.

It is reported that the schools must immediately submit statistics against classroom accommodation so that they can, as a district, fast track arrangements for the variance including provisioning of adhoc teaching posts and other resources if needs be.

The department has therefore advised parents to take their Grade 7 learners at Njinga Primary School and 8 learners to the OR Tambo Secondary on Monday 8 February 2021, where arrangements were made to have their admission challenges addressed.

Seun Mogotji, a community leader, said nothing seemed to be done properly in Limpopo and that they were not surprised by the learners’ admission debacles at the schools where parents were turned away and told they couldn’t register their Grade 7 learners at OR Tambo.

Mogotji said the learners passed their Grade 6 at Njinga Sindane which only caters for those in Grade 6. “No one bothered to inform parents that their kids wouldn’t be admitted at OR Tambo anymore and that they must now go to Tlou-Kwena. This information was only communicated on Monday, 08 February 2021 on a notice board but the schools had ample time to inform parents about these new developments,” said Mogotji.

Mogotji urged the Limpopo Department of Education to at least pretend to care and actually visit the schools to see just how ready they were for the reopening of schools.

“Otherwise, there is more disaster coming as we believe this is not an isolated case but there are many schools where there are even bigger problems,” added Mogotji.

Thembi Skhosana, a parent, said from December she went to ask the principal at the school about enrollment of learners and she was told that her child would be admitted at the school for Grade 7. “When rumours started that the Grade 7 learners wouldn’t be admitted at the school, I went again to ask the principal if it was true but the principal again promised that the learners would be admitted there.

According to the parents, the School Governing Body (SGB) elevated the matter to the Limpopo Department of Education who put the blame on the phased school approach.

Parents said for the last seven years their learners have had to enroll at the adjacent OR Tambo for Grade 7.

Most parents worried that they had already bought school uniform because that was how the situation had been for the past seven years.