Angry learners of Ozias Davhana Secondary school of Mpheni village outside Elim took to the streets last Friday, protesting against the Department of Education´s decision that grade 10 learners who had been promoted to grade 11 must return to grade 10.

In total, 135 grade 11 learners protested against the decision, as the report cards they received in December last year indicate that they had passed.

This comes after the Department of Education in Limpopo took a decision that 1 775 grade 11 learners had to return to grade 10 and that 766 grade 12 learners also had to return to grade 11. The learners affected are 2 541 in total, across the province. The department is now claiming that there had been some administration errors which resulted in the learners’ being promoted to the next grades, whereas they had not met the requirements.

The spokesperson for the Department of Education in Limpopo, Mr Ndo Mangala, confirmed that the department had taken a decision that all the learners who had been promoted to the next grade after not meeting the requirements, had to return to their previous grades.

“There has been an administration error that led to failed learners being promoted when they were not supposed. It is not only at Ozias Davhana (that this occurred), but at schools across the province which passed learners when they were not supposed to,” he said.

Mangala said this came after the department had conducted investigations at the schools. Mangala said both school principals and circuit managers were responsible for the irregularities.

The police had to be called in to disperse the angry grade 11 learners of Ozias Davhana, who could not understand why they were being demoted back to grade 10. Learners then started vandalizing school property in response to this decision.

During Mirror´s visit to Ozias Davhana Secondary School, some learners were very emotional about the issue. One of the learners, Rinae Hadzhi, said that he did not understand why he was supposed to go back to grade 10 as his report indicated that he had passed. “The department is taking advantage of us. They should have not given us the reports that indicate that we had passed in the first place. This is wrong,” he said.

He added that the department was not supposed to have taken the decision without having consulted them as learners first.

Now the school is under police guard at night as the learners had threatened to burn the school down.

According to Hadzhi, they as learners now wanted to meet with the MEC of Education in Limpopo, Mr Dickson Masemola, so that they could voice their concerns. “We also want our principal, Mr Rendani Muthelo, and the whole management to resign as they are unable to manage the school,” said Hadzhi.

Meanwhile, the DA’s provincial leader, Desiree van der Walt, said the situation had cast doubt on the integrity of the department to carry out its mandate. Van der Walt said it was difficult for one to believe in the accuracy of the terrible results that were reflected in the system.

She said the DA was going to ask the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, if she had confidence in the ability of the provincial department to run education.

Van der Walt believes that the standard of education in Limpopo is deteriorating and that this will also affect matric results.