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'WE STILL LEARN UNDER THE TREES'

EXPOSED: Pupils from Nelson Ramodike High School still learn under trees despite the government's promise to end tree, mud and shack classes. PIC: Alex Matlala. 04/02/2010. © Sowetan.
EXPOSED: Pupils from Nelson Ramodike High School still learn under trees despite the government's promise to end tree, mud and shack classes. PIC: Alex Matlala. 04/02/2010. © Sowetan.

PUPILS from the Nelson Ramodike High School in Limpopo are still learning from under the trees.

PUPILS from the Nelson Ramodike High School in Limpopo are still learning from under the trees.

This is despite the government's promise six years ago to eradicate tree, mud and shack classrooms in the province.

The school has a total enrolment of 765 pupils, but during rainy days, almost half of them don't report for school.

The school is situated in thick bushes at the foot of a mountain outside Lenyenye in Tzaneen.

There are only 15 classrooms, making teaching and learning impossible due to extreme overcrowding.

The other three classrooms are being used as a library, administration room, kitchen, laboratory and staff room.

This has forced grades 11 and 12 students to be taught physical science, accounting and mathematics under trees.

The pupils told Sowetan yesterday that their classes are sometimes disrupted by snakes found on the trees.

"All we need is an administration block to accommodate the teachers who have turned some of the classrooms into staff rooms.

"We have applied many times to the department for an administration block but our pleas have not yielded any fruits," said deputy principal Edward Sekokotla.

The department of education said earlier this year that more than 200 schools in Limpopo had their roofs and walls blown away by storms, leaving hundreds of children without classes since 2008.

Provincial spokesperson for the department Ndo Mangala said as far as they were concerned, there was no school that still conducted classes under trees in the province.

He said the department was aware that some principals admitted more pupils than their schools can accommodate, "because they know that the bigger the enrolment they have, the higher their salaries are going to be".

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