Almost three weeks after parents and pupils held protests at the school due to failing infrastructure, repair work finally commenced at John Bisseker Secondary School on May 16.
Earlier this month, the school made headlines when parents took the Department of Education to task regarding the lagging progress of school upgrades that had been promised in 2008.
School infrastructure had been neglected to the point of compromising pupils’ and staff safety, as a staircase in the last block of classrooms was beginning to break away from the rest of the building.
The block was closed off and declared unsafe by municipal officials and pupils were sent home.
After a successful meeting between the department and the school governing body, repair work has begun at a cost of R490,000 and education department spokesperson, Malibongwe Mtima said that work should be concluded towards the end of June.
Since repair work commenced, pupils have been permitted to return to school in stages and as of May 22, grades 10-12 are back in their classes.
Grades 8 and 9 will be allowed to return once sufficient progress has been made on the staircase.
The 80-year-old school is in urgent need of upgrades to manage the large capacity of learners enrolled there.
Classrooms have been left without electricity, there is one functioning tap for 1,370 pupils, only 11 ablution units, and a shortage of teachers.
The school said that, as of May 22, it was in the process of attending to the teacher shortage and that posts would be finalized soon.
SGB chair Rob Sylvester said the department had assured the school it would be receiving R20m in the new financial year to attend to necessary upgrades.
