New desks, chairs donated to EL school
THE caring East London community has come to the rescue by donating desks and chairs to needy Parkside Primary School Grade R pupils.
The GO! & Express highlighted the plight of the pupils, (“No seat of learning on June 8”), who had nothing to sit on during lessons.
The pupils were sitting on used bricks, crates, benches and 20l bucket seats in class, that was making learning very difficult. Each of the four classes consists of about 38 pupils, and each class had one or two of these items that doubled as seats for the children.
After the Go! report, caring community members decided to chip in and help. Businessman, Denzel Fuller donated 10 desks and Dayalin Naina 70 chairs to the school. Beacon Bay Rotary Club also donated tables and Debt Management Company donated chairs, all after the GO article.
Acting school principal Cynthia Desiree Butler said they were overwhelmed by the support they had received from the public since their story appeared in the GO! in June.
“The children get so excited when we receive new furniture and we always teach them how to look after the furniture so that we can have good furniture for years to come. We thank everyone who donates to our school because it makes learning easy and fun for our children,” she said.
Fuller said he also read about the school in the GO! and immediately knew that he had to do something. “It is important to invest in our children’s future. We don’t know what they will be one day. We must make them feel comfortable,” said Fuller, the owner of Integrity Funeral Homes.
Last year, the GO! also reported how needy school was, with sparse resources at the facility so badly vandalised that the pupils were sent home (“Pupils sent home: Poorly secured Parkside Primary shuts doors after thieves destroy facilities”)
The article showed how electrical wires were cut, toilets broken, fences destroyed and the principal’s laptop stolen at a school that already struggles to make ends meet. It was going to cost the school more than R100000 to fix the damage and rewire the school, but some Good Samaritans came on board and helped the school.
A contractor also responded positively to the article and over a weekend brought some of his workers along to fix the school’s plumbing at no cost. A concert was also held to raise funds to fix other problems at the school.
The education department then also came forward not long after the queries last year and fixed all the electrical, ablution and water problems at the school.
Fuller has further requested the school to submit a list of what they need and will do what he can to continue assisting it.
