Parents keep children out of Greytown school over unsafe classrooms

Children and educators at Indlovana Primary School in Greytown, northern KwaZulu Natal, have faced unsafe and deteriorating classrooms for years. The school has 16 concrete classrooms and eight mobile classrooms for 1,184 learners, 98% of whom are from disadvantaged families. Parents have kept their children home due to safety concerns, with one teacher falling into a hole in a wooden floor and suffering serious injury.

The KwaZulu Natal Department of Education has not responded to multiple inquiries about the school's condition. Parents have sent several letters to the department, expressing their concerns about broken windows, doors that cannot close, falling ceiling boards, and holes in wooden floors. One of the letters, dated January 25, 2022, stated that the school was not fit to accommodate children and teachers due to its condition.

In March, Equal Education submitted a report highlighting overcrowded classrooms, broken toilets, lack of water, shortages of textbooks, and deteriorating infrastructure at Indlovana. The SGB is seeking either renovation or rebuilding of the school, as mobile homes are only temporary. The school has only eight toilets, which are in poor condition, and the municipal health officials have threatened to close the school due to health hazards.

The SGB has given the department two options: renovate or rebuild the school from scratch. The SGB believes the infrastructure assistance will be provided in the next budget, but the brick walls still need window replacement and additional toilets. The uMkhonto weSizwe Party MPL Thuthukani Madondo stated that the Indlovana crisis is not unique, as it reflects the broader infrastructure challenges across the province.