MEC Magadzi drops in on two rural schools

The MEC for Education in Limpopo, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, visited two schools in Vhembe to monitor the infrastructure and find out more about the challenges facing rural schools.

Magadzi, accompanied by a representative of the Engen petroleum company, Ms Thandi Manqana, paid a visit to the Valdezia Higher Primary School and the Shihlobyeni Primary School in Lemana, Elim, last Thursday.

“We needed to see the state of the infrastructure in schools and not just read about the schools’ reports from the district offices,” Magadzi said. She indicated that the other reason for her visit to those primary schools was to urge teachers to work harder, so that learners could pass at the end of each term. “I once visited a high school and teachers complained that there were learners who couldn’t express themselves, both verbally and in written form,” she said.

Magadzi added that the teachers in high schools complained that they were now doing double work – teaching learners how to read and write while they should have been continuing with syllabi.

Shihlobyeni Primary School’s principal, Mr Nyiko Maluleke, informed the MEC about the lack of a working borehole and a kitchen at the school. Magadzi noted down the challenge the school is facing and promised to look into it. “We are happy to have you here in our school,” Maluleke told Magadzi.

Engen’s representative, Ms Thandi Manqana, said her company had decided to donate movable chalk boards to at least nine schools in Limpopo as part of Engen’s Klevakids Paraffin Safety Awareness campaign, which commences later this year. “We are committed to community involvement and social upliftment,” Manqana said.

News - Date: 10 April 2014

Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

Email: [email protected]