PUPILS at the Tlotlang Thuto Middle School in Bona Bona, North West, are worried that they might not make it to the next grade - not because they are ill-prepared for the exams but because of the conditions under which they have to learn.
Some of them study in a partially covered classroom and the rest under trees. They sit on broken chairs and stones. On rainy days, or when its dusty, they have to be sent home.
Their school was destroyed by angry protesters in July.
They burnt the school to force the government to act quickly in meeting their demands for proper roads, electricity and water.
The school has a enrolment of 153, with six teachers, including a principal.
On Friday, the Grade 10 pupils wrote their first final year exam paper. The first group were placed in one of the dilapidated school buildings to sit for the exams, while a second group had to wait for their turn.
The school principal uses his bakkie as an office. They do not have teaching and learning materials.
"Everything was destroyed in the fire. We do not have computers, printers, nothing, it is difficult to teach under such conditions. We are really doing our best but we are struggling," principal Eric Smit said.
He said the pupils did not have a common assessment scale (CAS) mark, as it was destroyed in the fire.
"We do not know what we are we going to do. I wrote a letter to the Department of Education's area office but they said I had to make a plan. Tell me, how are we going to do that under these circumstances?"
One of the pupils, 16-year-old Olebogeng Masaseng, who is doing Grade 8, said the situation saddened him because he had now fallen behind.
"I started school only when I was nine years old because we were living on a farm and there was no school nearby. My parents brought me here to live with my aunt because I told them I wanted to go to school. Now my dream might be shattered."
Grade 8 pupil Boipelo Baraganye said they could not concentrate and were distracted by passing animals.
Department of Education spokeswoman Bayanda Zenzile said the department had assessed the situation and had given the school two mobile classrooms last month. But when Sowetan visited the school on Friday, the mobile classes were just being erected.
Children's future ruined by community riots
PUPILS at the Tlotlang Thuto Middle School in Bona Bona, North West, are worried that they might not make it to the next grade - not because they are ill-prepared for the exams but because of the conditions under which they have to learn.
Some of them study in a partially covered classroom and the rest under trees. They sit on broken chairs and stones. On rainy days, or when its dusty, they have to be sent home.
Their school was destroyed by angry protesters in July.
They burnt the school to force the government to act quickly in meeting their demands for proper roads, electricity and water.
The school has a enrolment of 153, with six teachers, including a principal.
On Friday, the Grade 10 pupils wrote their first final year exam paper. The first group were placed in one of the dilapidated school buildings to sit for the exams, while a second group had to wait for their turn.
The school principal uses his bakkie as an office. They do not have teaching and learning materials.
"Everything was destroyed in the fire. We do not have computers, printers, nothing, it is difficult to teach under such conditions. We are really doing our best but we are struggling," principal Eric Smit said.
He said the pupils did not have a common assessment scale (CAS) mark, as it was destroyed in the fire.
"We do not know what we are we going to do. I wrote a letter to the Department of Education's area office but they said I had to make a plan. Tell me, how are we going to do that under these circumstances?"
One of the pupils, 16-year-old Olebogeng Masaseng, who is doing Grade 8, said the situation saddened him because he had now fallen behind.
"I started school only when I was nine years old because we were living on a farm and there was no school nearby. My parents brought me here to live with my aunt because I told them I wanted to go to school. Now my dream might be shattered."
Grade 8 pupil Boipelo Baraganye said they could not concentrate and were distracted by passing animals.
Department of Education spokeswoman Bayanda Zenzile said the department had assessed the situation and had given the school two mobile classrooms last month. But when Sowetan visited the school on Friday, the mobile classes were just being erected.
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