The promised start date on which basic renovations and refurbishments were to be done at Greenville Primary School in Gqeberha has come and gone.
Even though the district department of education committed to starting the work, they were missing in action on the start date of March 15.
The decision to commence with work came after angry parents shut the school and community activist Christian Martin and parent representatives finally managed to convene an urgent meeting with district officials in February.
Angry parents brought schooling at Greenville to a grinding halt and condemned the school as a danger zone in a bid to get the Eastern Cape department of education to acknowledge the crisis at the school.
Parents were aggrieved that the 400 boys and girls at the school were forced to share one dirty ablution block comprising only nine toilets.
There is no running water to the ablution block and toilets cannot be flushed.
The school’s broken windows and damaged doors, smashed ceilings, dilapidated classrooms and roofs, as well as broken desks and chalkboards added to their woes.
Speaking to The Herald about the promise that had not been kept, Martin said everyone involved was “bitterly disappointed”.
“They gave us their word that money had been set aside and that the refurbishments would be done.
“We took them in good faith and did everything that we possibly could from our side, but they failed to uphold their end of the bargain,” Martin said.
To get the process under way, parents rolled up their sleeves to assist. They started cleaning the toilets, classrooms and school grounds.
Parents have been keeping the toilets in pristine condition ever since by providing buckets of water with which to flush the toilets until the water supply was restored.
The basic refurbishments that the department undertook to do, according to Martin, included fixing broken windows, classrooms and bathrooms.
He said the department was also going to make sure a functioning water supply was reconnected at the school when the work started.
Another decision that had been taken at the meeting in February was that Greenville would be moved from a Section 20 to a Section 21 school.
Being classified as a Section 21 school allows the school access to a maintenance budget that can in the future be used for improvements at the facility.
Eastern Cape education department spokesperson Mali Mtima was asked to comment on the matter on Thursday.
At the time of going to print on Monday, he had not responded.
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