* * *YCLSA Overberg District [Western Cape] Press Statement *
* * March 14, 2012 *YCLSA statement on the continued disruption of schooling at Umyezo Combined School in Grabouw, Western Cape.* * * The Young Communist League of South Africa in the Overberg District has noted with concern the ongoing disturbance of schooling at Umyezo Combined School in Grabouw. We would like to unequivocally state that although we understand and fully sympathise with the plight* *for decent learning facilities at the school, we condemn the burning down of classrooms and the continued disturbance of learning activities. We have noted with dismay the statements that have been made by the Elgin Grabouw Civic Organisation that no schooling will take place until their demands have been met. We acknowledge the urgent need for a new school and a commitment in this regard is required from the Department of Education. We further condemn the burning down of some of the classrooms at the school last week when the protest started. We believe that you cannot in the quest of wanting to live in a mansion burn down the little hut that you have as a demand for the mansion to be built. As much as we support the call for a decent school to be built we believe that burning down the current facilities is not a solution. Consequently, this is going to worsen the shortage of classroom and adversely affect teaching and learning. We note with dismay the statements which have been made by some of the leaders of the Elgin Grabouw Civic Organisation claiming to have been mandated by the parents to chase away pupils from the school on the 12th of March 2012. This was apparently because the Western Cape Education Department did not give them a response which was favourable to them. The question that we need to ask ourselves is if these parents gave them the mandate why did they send them to school in the first place when they knew that they have given a mandate of this nature. It is also interesting to note that the leaders of this organisation do not have children studying at the affected school themselves. The DA led Western Cape government has systematically discriminated against working class and poor communities, and have dismally failed to provide decent schools and adequate learner support material especially in Grabouw. This is despite the excellent matric pass rates that have been produced at Umyezo. We salute the educators who have shown commitment and have tirelessly strived to give quality education to the under-resourced working class communities of Grabouw. We make a call that the disturbance of learning activities should come to an end immediately. We make this call conscious of the fact that the there is a need for a school that will accommodate all the students, however we believe keeping pupils away from the classrooms will have a negative effect on their future. We make a call that all pupils must return to classroom while negotiations are taking place. We also make a call to the Western Cape Education Department to respond speedily to the demands made by the community as they are genuine and realistic demands. Issued by the YCLSA Overberg District For more information contact: Mzwakhe Magadla 0732105288 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
