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Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
AT LEAST 214 pupils at Valukhalo Secondary School in Mangwe district are attending     lessons in a community hall due to lack of proper classrooms. The community and school authorities agreed to partition the community hall into two classrooms and create some space for members of staff.

The school’s headmistress, Region Dube, said 129 Form One pupils occupy one of the rooms with 85 Form Twos using the other room.
“We are overwhelmed with pupils but we cannot chase them away. The learning process is difficult because pupils, especially the Form Ones, will be extremely crowded in one room,” she told Chronicle.

“The Form Two class is not any better and we are now using a community hall, which we divided to form a room for each class and a staff room.”

Dube said teachers were struggling to manage the bloated classes, which makes effective learning virtually impossible.
“It is just impossible to have 129 pupils learning in one class for the whole day. We have six teachers and they rotate in the two classes. The furniture is hardly enough for all the children and staff members,” she said.

“We need help in constructing classroom blocks because we are supposed to open a Form Three class next year and we need to have space for them.”

Villagers in the area said they were forced to open the school without proper structures because of desperation as their children were not learning.

“Our children were not learning and the only school we have here is Empandeni High but community members cannot afford the school fees there,” said Headman Zibuyeni of Empandeni West.

As a result, children were dropping out of school after completing Grade Seven while some enrolled at a secondary school located about 30km away.

Scores of pupils flocked to the school when it opened in January this year despite the poor infrastructure, and lack of textbooks or toilets.
On Wednesday the General Foundation Apostolic Church in Christ chipped in by donating stationery and building material worth R78,200 to Valukhalo School.

The church leader, Dr Francis Jinoti Moyo, said the school needed more support for the benefit of the youth.
“There is no danger great like that of depriving a child access to education. In addition to donating stationery and building material to Valukhalo School we will also be paying fees for 500 underprivileged children from this community beginning next year,” he said.

The donation comprised 7,680 exercise books, 275 mathematical sets, 50 bags of cement and paint.
Mangwe MP Cde Obedingwa Mguni witnessed the event and applauded the church for a positive gesture.

“I have been moving around schools monitoring the work of teachers and I was shocked to discover that some teachers abscond and are not taking their work seriously,” said Cde Mguni.

“Such teachers must be reported as we cannot tolerate people who receive their salaries for nothing. Teachers can you please take your work seriously and do not destroy the future of children.”