An unsteady old bus has been serving as a classroom at Sindawonye Primary School at Elandhoring farm on the outskirts of Kariega in the Eastern Cape.
The rickety old bus leaks when it rains and it rattles and shakes on windy days.
The learners are crowded on one side of the converted classroom, which is half-filled with broken desks and chairs.
Learners said they share the classroom with snakes and monkeys from time to time. One learner jokingly told of how a monkey ran away with his lunch box.
“A monkey got in through the window and stole my food one time!” exclaimed one learner with a visibly torn jersey.
Six classes are forced to share two shoddy classrooms for pupils from grade R to grade 4. The school of 86 learners, seven of whom do not have birth certificates, relies on rainwater and has no electricity.
Parents said with the help of the Uitenhage Dispatch Taxi Association, they were able to arrange an inspection by children’s rights activist Petros Majola of the Khula Development Project, who got the Eastern Cape Department of Education to act.
“Our wish was for the department to build a school for our children, but they have decided to close and move our children to another school.
“What matters is that our children will be safe in the new school. We were always worried that the bus would roll over one day, with the children inside,” said one parent.
Majola said he was happy that the department was doing something about the school.
“Children shouldn’t be taught in a place like that,” he said.
The school principal refused to speak to the media, and referred us to the departmental spokesperson, Malibongwe Mtima, who explained why building a new school on the site would not be possible.
“The school, for starters, is built on private property. The department cannot build on private property,” said Mtima.
But he said the school could not continue operating in any case, as it has fewer than 100 learners. He said the department has taken a decision to move the learners to neighbouring schools.