City of Tshwane MMC for Environment Obakeng Ramabodu toured the Mogale primary school photos by Dimakatso Modipa
MMC for Environment, Waste Management and Agriculture Obakeng Ramabodu visited the Mogale Primary School in Mamelodi Gardens on Thursday in terms of the City of Tshwane’s Back-to-School Programme.
“We are here to check the state of readiness among the educators and the learners regarding the academic year that has started now in January, and we are availing ourselves to the school’s authorities as well as to the parents so that we can help where necessary, because these are times where leadership is needed as not all schools are privileged like schools in affluent areas,” said Ramabodu.
He said in most cases township schools are ignored and they therefore need serious attention.
“The principal of the school has indicated that they have challenges regarding waste collection at the school and as result we as the Municipality will consider introducing a flat rate fee regarding waste collection at schools,” he said.
“We promise to come back to the school and contribute the little that we can in terms of resources,” said Ramabodu as he in the process urged parents of the school to each contribute at least R100 per year towards the upkeep of the school.
At the moment parents at Mogale Primary School are contributing nothing as the school falls under the category of “no fee-paying ” school.
Ramabodu expressed disappointment that there are learners who don’t have chairs to sit on at the school.
He said he will be attending the forthcoming parents’ meeting at the Mogale Primary School wherein he will encourage the parents to make some contribution towards the well-being of the school so that the learners there can have a better future.
“Most of the parents of the school know deep down their hearts that they can afford to pop out at least R100 a year as contribution to the school,” insisted Ramabodu.
The school’s principal Sivuyile Twaise expressed appreciation regarding Ramabodu’s visit to the school whereby he listened to the plight that the school is faced with.
“Trying to get parents to pop out something for the upkeep of the school is going to be a challenge because the school has been designated as a no-fee paying school and many of the parents of the learners who attend this school are unemployed,” said Twaise.
He pointed out that the school is facing an influx from foreign-born learners who have been allocated space at the school in terms of the online application system and that this places a burden on the school, which already lacks resources.
“The BELA bill gives us a bit of a problem but nevertheless it is a framework within which we must operate,” he said.
“The government has introduced austerity measures and this has led to various teaching posts not being filled at the school,” he said.
He said the school mainly caters for learners who are from disadvantaged areas like Extension 6, Phomolong and Nellmapius and not necessarily learners from the relatively affluent Mamelodi Gardens, where the school is situated.
“For survival we depend on the small grant that we get from the government, and that is not good enough,” lamented Twise.
He expressed hope that after the forthcoming parents’ meeting many issues that are currently bedeviling the school will be a thing of the past as they will be sorted.
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