PARENTS of pupils at Philipvale Primary School in Philipstown took their frustrations to the streets and refused to allow their children to return to school on Wednesday and Thursday this week due to the lack of a water supply at the school.
The parents, who have kept the school gates locked for the past two days, burned tyres at the school entrance and demanded that the Northern Cape Department of Education address them.
Apparently, the school has been experiencing a poor water supply since last year, resulting in limited teaching and learning at the school.
It has also been reported that there is no electricity at the school.
The school was also closed a number of times last year and pupils told to stay at home due to positive cases of Covid-19.
One of the parents said on Thursday that the children are “continually sent home” and could not complete their scheduled attendance as per the school register.
The parent said that the department always made empty promises that the issues would be resolved.
They said they were frustrated when a delegation arrived at the school and refused to engage with them on Wednesday, on the first day of school.
The officials, they said, were only there to monitor the back-to-school programme and not to engage on the matter of the school’s condition.
The Northern Cape Department of Education said on Thursday that it is aware of the situation at Philipvale Primary School.
Department spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe said the problem lies with the Renosterberg Local Municipality.
According to Van der Merwe, it is not only the school experiencing water shortages but the community as a whole.
He said the department has been engaging with the municipality, while the district office has sent a delegation to engage with the parents.
Van der Merwe added that a service provider had been appointed to supply the school with clean water.
“But that was not sustainable. Our infrastructure department was busy doing inspections in order to find alternative measures for a temporary solution. We are still exploring other options,” he added.
