By Anita Dangazele
The Gqeberha High Court has granted an urgent interdict to prevent the Eastern Cape Department of Education from closing Tsitsikama Primary School and converting it into a high school.
In January, the primary school was at the centre of a tense standoff between the Education Department and parents. This was after the department failed to consult the school and parents about its plans to convert the primary school into a high school.
The Garden Route town has been without a high school for many years, forcing learners to travel 70km, either to Humansdorp or Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape, every day.
When the Eastern Cape Transport Department failed to provide scholar transport at the beginning of the school year, parents of high school learners were promised that their children would be accommodated at the primary school, which would be converted into a high school.
On the first day of the school year, a group of Grade 10 learners went to the primary school only to be welcomed by shocked and confused teachers who did not know about the arrangement.
The department then issued a notice that the school would be closed with immediate effect while it was transformed into a high school.
This sparked outrage among parents, who filed an urgent court application to prevent the department from executing its plan and to save the school from closure.
“Of course, we want a high school in our area,” said Burton Mlandu, chairperson of the school’s governing body.
“We’ve been saying that for years, but it cannot happen at the expense of our primary school. And we were never consulted before our school was suddenly ordered to close its doors.”
On Tuesday, Judge Samson Dunywa in the Gqeberha High Court prohibited the department from interrupting schooling or accommodating high school pupils at the school.
Dunywa also ordered the department to issue a public statement that the school would not be closed or merged with other schools and that it would remain a primary school until further notice.
Spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Education Department, Malibongwe Mtima, had not responded to questions from Scrolla.Africa by the time of publication.
Pictured above: Tsitsikama Primary School.
Image source: Facebook
