Parliament, Monday, 30 August 2021 – The Chairperson of the Select Committee on Education and Technology, Sports, Arts and Culture, Mr Elleck Nchabeleng, has noted with regret the media reports of classrooms that were destroyed by fire at the two Eastern Cape secondary schools last week.
The schools are; Butterworth’s Mgomazi Junior Secondary School where five classrooms were destroyed and Alice’s Jabavu High School where Grade 12 maths and physics classes, the school library, science and maths laboratory bathrooms, the school’s storeroom and even its tuck-shop were all burnt to ashes.
According to media reports the reasons for the fire are not yet known for the Mgomazi Junior secondary School, but for Jabavu High School, homeless people near the school lit fire to stay warm and their fire resulted in disaster. The fire allegedly started in one classroom and spread across several rooms.
Mr Nchabeleng said the news of the disaster of the burning of classrooms with all the resources that were destroyed at both schools are saddening and regrettable. “The loss of that valuable infrastructure and the resources that were there are regrettable and unacceptable especially at a time when there is a call for the improvement of schools in the historically disadvantaged communities,” said Mr Nchabeleng.
Mr Nchabeleng called for the South African Police Service to leave no stone unturned to get the perpetrators of the disasters to face the law. “We are calling on the school governing bodies and the communities at large to look after schools. Schools are the symbols of a country’s future, seeing a destroyed school is heartbreaking and it is like seeing a burnt future of the country,” emphasised Mr Nchabeleng.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY, ARTS AND CULTURE, MR ELLECK NCHABELENG.
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