Teaching disrupted at metro school over ongoing power cut

Learning at Buffalo City Metro Inner City School has been disrupted for three consecutive days as more than 600 pupils continue to protest over the school’s lack of electricity, which they say has persisted for six months. The protests have seen pupils refuse to attend classes, locking teachers out of the premises and demanding urgent intervention from the provincial education department to restore power at the school. According to pupils, the prolonged outage has severely affected teaching and learning, particularly during the winter months when classrooms are dark and cold.

Representative council of learner’s chair Moreblessings Chakukwamba said the strike was wasting time as they were supposed to prepare for their preliminary examinations. “Instead of preparing for preliminary examinations taking place in August, we are now striking for electricity,” she said. “We were supposed to camp at school as the matric class of 2026.

“We must finish the syllabus before the examination, and we need extra classes for extra lessons. “The school served as a centre and camp for extra tutorials in preparation for the upcoming examination.” The pupils also said that essential school functions, including the use of computers, printing facilities and other electrical equipment, had been brought to a standstill. “Learners are facing challenges of the school not having enough resources for learning,” grade 12 pupil Liyema Lawrence said.

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“Textbooks are limited and it is very difficult for the teachers to give us notes. There are no morning classes.” The issue was reported to the basic education department and, according to the pupils, it was not willing to assist.

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