The parents of the grade four, five and six learners at Mara Combined Primary school in the Soutpansberg West Circuit area contacted Mirror for assistance, after learning that their children have not received any tuition since the beginning of the academic year.

According to a concerned parent who is also a member of the school governing body, Mr Ebrahim Bernard, the grade four, five and six pupils have been without teachers since the schools reopened in January this year. “We have three classes full of children, but no teachers. As the school governing body, we tried to talk to the circuit manager, but he keeps on ignoring this problem. The learners´ books are empty,” he said.

He added that the circuit manager promised to visit the school but never fulfilled his promises. “This is a very serious challenge. There were six permanent teachers, including the principal, and one temporary teacher last year. During the holidays the circuit manager, Mr Johannes Ramuedzisi, decided to transfer two of the teachers to another school. We were shocked when the school reopened in January to find that some of our teachers had been transferred to another school in the circuit area, leaving two vacant posts at Mara Combined School,” he outlined.

On Thursday last week, Mirror formed part of the delegation from Buysdorp, comprising parents and members of the school governing body. When the delegation arrived at the circuit offices, the secretary of the circuit manager, Ms Elizabeth Rabothapi said the circuit manager was not there, although the chairperson of the school governing body had called him a day before to inform him that they would be visiting his office to raise their concerns.

According to the parents, “this shows that Ramuedzisi is either not doing his job properly or he is just ignoring us. We want this problem to be solved as soon as possible, for the sake of the learners.”

Mara Combined Primary is situated at Buysdorp township on the western side of Louis Trichardt. The principal of Mara Combined school, Mrs Joyce Vilander, confirmed that there are three classes at her school without teachers. “We are currently short of teachers in the intermediate phase. The grade four, five and six classes are without teachers and the parents are becoming concerned about it. It is really a challenge to the school,” she said.

When contacted for comment, the circuit manager of Soutpansberg West, Mr Johannes Ramuedzisi, admitted that there is a shortage of teachers at Mara. “We are currently receiving applications so that we can fill the posts at Mara Combined Primary. I cannot comment further in this regard as I am not authorised by the department to speak to the media,” he said.

Several attempts to reach the Senior Manager of Education in the Vhembe District, Mr Nthambeleni Rambiyana, failed.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Department of Education in Limpopo, Mr Ndo Mangala, who was not aware of the situation at Mara Combined, said that the school has a very low enrolment. “This is why the two teachers were moved to another school,” he said. He added: “There are always challenges when it comes to providing teachers to schools.” Mangala further promised that the department would look at all possibilities in trying to provide two more teachers at the school to address this challenge.