Pupils at a school burnt down by arsonists in Vuwani, Limpopo, have gone back to classes in droves after a local chief teamed up with disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers to rebuilt the school.
Yesterday, Grade 12 pupils at Radzambo High School at Matsila village sang praises for Chief Livhuwani Matsila after he got them back to class. He teamed up with two volunteer teachers from Gift of the Givers.
Radzambo is one of the 29 schools burnt during the community's protest demanding to be excluded from the new Malamulele municipality.
Matsila has decided that children should go back to school and should not wait for demarcation issues to be sorted out.
The matter came before the court and the community lost the case against the Municipal Demarcation Board's decision to place the area under the new municipality. The matter is now set for the Constitutional Court.
Matsila approached several donors to come and repair the school, and Gift of the Givers is one of those who came on board.
Gift of the Givers did not just want to help with repairs but also brought volunteer teachers to help with subjects such as English, life sciences and others. The chief worked with community members who had volunteered to help fix the school.
The Department of Education has also brought some temporary mobile classes.
Matsila said: "It was out of the community's concern to see so many pupils hanging around the streets because of issues not related to education, and I decided to do something."
He said he called Gift of the Givers to come on board and they had agreed to assist with repairs.
The perpetrators also broke each and every windowpane in all the classes.
Matsila said the school also has structural defects and called on the business sector to assist improve the condition of the school.
He was happy with the response of the pupils as half of the Grade 12 pupils attended classes yesterday. Mulalo Maladze, 21, said she was grateful to the chief for helping them get to class. "We were not achieving anything by just sitting at home, and we are happy that our chief assisted us to get back to class."
Chief, volunteers team up in Vuwani
Pupils at a school burnt down by arsonists in Vuwani, Limpopo, have gone back to classes in droves after a local chief teamed up with disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers to rebuilt the school.
Yesterday, Grade 12 pupils at Radzambo High School at Matsila village sang praises for Chief Livhuwani Matsila after he got them back to class. He teamed up with two volunteer teachers from Gift of the Givers.
Radzambo is one of the 29 schools burnt during the community's protest demanding to be excluded from the new Malamulele municipality.
Matsila has decided that children should go back to school and should not wait for demarcation issues to be sorted out.
The matter came before the court and the community lost the case against the Municipal Demarcation Board's decision to place the area under the new municipality. The matter is now set for the Constitutional Court.
Matsila approached several donors to come and repair the school, and Gift of the Givers is one of those who came on board.
Gift of the Givers did not just want to help with repairs but also brought volunteer teachers to help with subjects such as English, life sciences and others. The chief worked with community members who had volunteered to help fix the school.
The Department of Education has also brought some temporary mobile classes.
Matsila said: "It was out of the community's concern to see so many pupils hanging around the streets because of issues not related to education, and I decided to do something."
He said he called Gift of the Givers to come on board and they had agreed to assist with repairs.
The perpetrators also broke each and every windowpane in all the classes.
Matsila said the school also has structural defects and called on the business sector to assist improve the condition of the school.
He was happy with the response of the pupils as half of the Grade 12 pupils attended classes yesterday. Mulalo Maladze, 21, said she was grateful to the chief for helping them get to class. "We were not achieving anything by just sitting at home, and we are happy that our chief assisted us to get back to class."