More than 2 000 pupils and their teachers were forced to flee Sizwe Secondary School in Elandsfontein after sewage and stormwater flooded classrooms, toilets and sports grounds. Matriculants and other pupils had to complete exams at a nearby school. Sizwe Secondary is the only non-fee paying school in the area and services a largely underprivileged community.
The disaster turned the back end of the school year and the coming festive season into a celebration of stink and filth for the children and the surrounding community. It’s an education and public health crisis that neither the City of Ekurhuleni nor the Gauteng department of education (GDE) seems willing to own. While the gunk subsided from almost half a metre of flooding last week, large parts of the school remain covered in poo and other waste.
An informal settlement that houses just over 7 000 people was built on the waste dump that now neighbours the school. The stink is unbearable. DA ward councillor Kade Guerreiro said at least 12 classrooms were so badly damaged by the disaster that they would have to be replaced.
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Brand new temporary classrooms that had yet to be electrified were also ruined by excrement. A school staffer, who did not want to be named for fear of losing their job, said it was the school’s leadership that took the decision to evacuate. “We had no guidance or support from the department,” they said.
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