Central SA
Follow-up meeting to be held following school bus disruption in North West township─── TSHEHLA KOTELI 10:12 Sat, 14 Jan 2023
A follow-up meeting is set to take place on Monday, 16 January 2023, between the North West Department of Education and other relevant stakeholders following the disruption of school buses entering the Boikhutso township.
The departmental spokesperson, Elias Malindi, says on Thursday 12 January 2023, school buses from Bakerville village in Ditsobotla were barred from entering Boikhutso by community members demanding employment at a solar plant project in the area.
Malindi explains that it took an initiative from the parents in the township for learners to arrive safely at school. They escorted learners in and out of the township. “The parents also committed to ensuring the safety of the learners during the day by maintaining their presence in and around the school premises.”
ALSO READ: Contentious private school in Bloemfontein shut its doors
Malindi further states that learners from Bakerville attend school at Gaetsho and J.M. Lekgetho secondary schools, as their village has only one primary school.
A meeting was held between parents from Boikhutso, officials from the education department and Ditsobotla ward councillors on Thursday to discuss learner safety.
The situation calmed down and buses got into the township without disturbance on Friday.
The provincial Education MEC, Viola Motsumi, acknowledged the efforts of both parents and ward councillors and thanked them for their progressive initiative.
"On behalf of the department l want to commend and acknowledge the commitment taken by both parents of Bakerville and Boikhutso township. All these parents have a keen interest in education and as a department, we respect that.”
ALSO READ: Irate residents disrupt first day of school in North West
Meanwhile, in the Free State, a contentious private school in Bloemfontein, which battled to pay its workforce for months, will no longer be operational. This comes as schools are reopened for the 2023 academic year on Wednesday 11 January 2023.
The school has since closed its doors after financial trouble beset the Ad Laudem Independent School near the Universitas Academic Hospital.
According to the Free State Education spokesperson, Howard Ndaba, the school seized to exist and pupils will be transferred to at least two local schools in Bloemfontein.
He says they have since met and discussed the transfer of the pupils to these two schools after Ad Laudem ran into financial difficulties.
Ndaba recently told OFM News that the department had made several attempts to meet with the school management in 2022, but all efforts were in vain. Ndaba confirms that the school did receive a government subsidy to help it run its school affairs.
