By Buziwe Nocuze
Recent heavy storms in the Western Cape have forced schools to close.
Schools officially reopened for the new term on Tuesday, but most parents didn’t send their kids to school because they thought it would be unsafe.
Some parents were misled by fake social media posts claiming that schools would be closed. However, the provincial education department said the information was false.
On Wednesday, after talks with the provincial Disaster Risk Management Centre and South African Weather Service, a decision was made to close schools in certain districts on 11 July for safety reasons.
David Maynier, the Western Cape Education MEC, said the affected schools have received official notice of the closures and have been told to inform parents.
So far, 20 schools have been told to close across the province, most of which are in the Cape Winelands district.
The affected districts include Metro Central, Metro East, Metro South, Cape Winelands, Overberg, and Circuits 1 and 2 of the West Coast Education District (Malmesbury and Piketberg areas).
“All other schools in the remaining districts will be open unless approval has been granted for closure,” said Maynier. “This will be done on a case-by-case basis. Our default position is always to keep schools open, but we are mindful of the severity of the warnings in place and the damage already caused in certain areas.”
Over the past few days, 137 schools have reported some form of infrastructure damage, either due to flooding or strong winds.
All schools are expected to reopen on Friday, but the department will consider the weather forecasts before deciding.
A parent, Zodidi Lumpampa, was relieved to hear schools were closed.
“Even if we didn’t receive a letter from our kids’ school, we were not going to send them because we see the weather is bad and sending them would be risking their lives. The department made a good decision,” said Lumpampa.
Another parent, who did not want to be named, kept her children at home.
“It was cold and raining on Tuesday,” she said. “I didn’t even bother waking them up to get ready for school. Their health is the priority, and I wouldn’t take the chance of sending them to school as I don’t have the money to take them to the doctor if they get sick.”
Pictured above: Flooding in Cape Town.
Source: X
