The leader of the March and March movement, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, says at least 40 children from families displaced by the 2022 floods are currently not attending school because they have not been enrolled at the nearby Addington Primary School in Durban.
Ngobese-Zuma says the learners have instead been placed on a waiting list at the school, leaving them without access to education. She adds that government officials had allocated the pupils to schools in Greyville, but many parents are unable to afford transport costs and school fees.
Speaking during a picket outside Addington Primary School, Ngobese-Zuma criticised the Department of Education’s handling of the matter, saying its solution had failed to consider the realities facing flood-affected families.
“We are not happy with the response from the Department of Education, which claims the children have been placed at schools. As I speak now, these children are still at home because parents have made it clear they cannot afford to take their children to the other side of town,” she said.
Ngobese-Zuma said many of the parents are unemployed and remain displaced following the floods. She questioned why learners from foreign national families were not placed at the Greyville schools if those institutions were deemed accessible.
“You can’t solve a problem by creating another problem,” she added, calling on the department to urgently intervene and place the affected learners at schools closer to their homes.
The Department of Education has yet to respond to the latest concerns raised by the community.