Swamped teachers ‘expected to perform miracles'
Njobe said the school's request was simple, no luxuries, but essentials — classrooms, teachers and security.
The principal said the school struggled to get parents to assist their children with homework and assignments.
'A lot of parents are working on the farms, picking oranges.
'Most of these companies have a no-work-no-pay policy so parents miss out on a lot because they can't afford not to get paid.
'Parents leave early in the morning and come back after dark. There's no time to look at their children's work.
'We have challenges even when we've written letters to parents asking for meetings — they don't show up.'
Njobe said Bongolethu's biggest problem was the lack of classrooms because even if the department employed more teachers, there would be no space for them to teach.
'We've written letters asking for bungalows or containers. We would take that while they source funding to build proper classrooms.
'We also want a library. There's no library at the school and no proper resources for the children.
'The department tries in its allocation of books but it's not enough.'
Just a few metres up the road, Glentana Junior Primary principal Tembela Vumazonke echoed Njobe's cries for help.
Vumazonke and her grade 3 English subject head, Lillian Dyonase, said reading levels at the school were dangerously low, with grade 3 pupils grappling with words they should have mastered in grade 1.
'Our children don't know phonics. We create posters, we try everything, but some children just can't comprehend what's in front of them,' Vumazonke said.
Dyonase said the teachers tried to support pupils individually, but the sheer number of struggling youngsters made it impossible to keep up with the curriculum.
'We're grade 3 teachers, but you find the words we're teaching the pupils, the words they're struggling with, are grade 1 or grade 2 words.
'I have a problem with children who don't know how to read entire sentences.
'I even have to break down words and, [in] that time, we've got five sentences to go through and yet that's how I'm teaching each class.
'There's a disconnect somewhere between child, educator and parent. The biggest problem we've got with languages is isiXhosa, which is a home language [subject].
'Even though the children speak the language, they can't read, write or comprehend,' Dyonase said.
Vumazonke said some parents had dropped out of school themselves, making it difficult for them to help their children with their homework.
Bongolethu and Glentana are also situated near taverns — a major headache for both schools.
Njobe said children as young as those in grade 4 consumed alcohol.
Dyonase said the proximity of the taverns was a big problem.
'There's a lot of drinking that goes on in Kirkwood.
' We also deal a lot with children who have learning disabilities and as educators we see this, but we're not medical professionals and can't give a diagnosis.
'We refer them to a departmental official who conducts such assessments, but the problem is there's only one official for the entire district which creates a backlog.'
Eastern Cape education department spokesperson Vuyiseka Mboxela said the department was currently building 34 schools in the province, and while Glentana was not part of the figure, the department was obligated to address the challenges at the school.
'Increase of numbers in classes are a decision of the school because it's them that administer intake at the school.'
Mboxela said building new schools in communities depended on the determination of profiles conducted by the department.
The provincial government had budgeted R1.9bn for school infrastructure in the current financial year.
The number of schools in the province have been reduced from 5,285 to 4,976.
On the proximity of taverns close to schools, Mboxela said the liquor board had extended the radius of taverns to be 500m from schools.
'Previously, this was 100m,' she said.
This special report into the state of literacy, a collaborative effort by The Herald, Sowetan and Daily Dispatch, was made possible by the Henry Nxumalo Foundation
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