KZN DA premier candidate Chris Pappas was told by the school management that the school had to get Jojo tank to mitigate water challenges. Photo: Supplied.
Durban — The DA in KwaZulu-Natal has called on the Education Department to review the quintiling of schools every year to ensure the proper allocation of funds.
This was said by the party’s premier candidate, Chris Pappas, on Wednesday during his visit as part of his assessment of the provincial education system as election day draws closer.
Pappas was on the campaign trail in the northern areas of Durban, where he visited Temple Valley Secondary School in Verulam, which had had no water for a week.
Speaking to the media after briefing the staff, Pappas blamed the Education Department for its poor quintiling system, which he said must always be reviewed in line with the new challenges that come with the emergence of informal settlements in previously affluent areas since the abolition of apartheid’s Group Areas Act.
The current uMngeni Local Municipality mayor said the problem with the school was the allocation of funds by the department, which was based on its wrong quintile. He said although the school was quintile 5, since it was an area previously regarded as affluent, the majority of pupils came from poor communities who could not afford school fees.
“The school’s quintile must be changed to at least 4 or 3 so that it can get increased funding from the department. It is unfortunate that the school is getting just R140 000 to cater for more than 900 pupils. The money is clearly not enough for the school to function,with such a huge number of pupils,” said Pappas.
Besides persistent water challenges in the northern areas of the city which have affected all the schools, Temple Valley has a hefty water and electricity bill of about R1 million which it owes the City.
Pappas said the school could not afford to pay this because it had to prioritise the needs of the pupils over anything else, including paying for the City’s services.
He said the school has told him that half of its allocation goes to the purchase of learning materials, including textbooks, which was why it had not been able to afford to pay water and electricity bills. As a result the school had to send lower grades pupils back home because of water challenges.
The school was also the victim of its success as more parents opted to send their children there because it has been consistently getting a 99% pass rate.
KZN Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said reviewing quintiles requires a school principal to write to the department and request new quintiles based on the new developments in relation to pupils’ economic status.
Pappas also expressed concerns about the ongoing blockades in the Verulam central business district because of the eThekwini Municipality workers’ strike. He called for consequences for those who were vandalising the infrastructure.
On Tuesday the town was besieged by violent protests, during which people threw rubbish all over the town. Besides the court interdict and threat of arrests, workers had not returned to work on Wednesday.
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