JUST like the Messiah, Wilson Ntshangase saved Maphovela High School in Ulundi, northern KZN which was on the verge of collapse.
The mayor of Ulundi Municipality visited Maphovela on Tuesday, 23 January, after he received the letter from the school seeking assistance.
Ntshangase did not just bring words, but trucks loaded with building materials for the renovations.
Despite facing hardships, the school moved from the 57% pass rate that they obtained the previous year to 78% in 2023.
Ntshangase commended both pupils and teachers for not giving up even if the surroundings were not encouraging for them.
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“It's embarrassing that even 30 years into our democracy there are children who have to sit in a classroom with a broken roof, windows and doors, yet are expected to produce best results,” said the mayor.
He said as the municipality they don’t have a full budget to renovate schools, but they go all out to assist where they can as education is the backbone of this country.
Induna Amos Dlamini said it's a pity that even when the school reports to the department, they come to evaluate and never come back.
“It's not the first time the municipality has rescued the school. Few years back when we had broken windows, they were the ones who repaired the windows and painted the school to meet the department halfway. But it seems that the municipality is on its own because the department doesn’t budge,” said induna.
A teacher agreed with the induna, saying they wrote to the municipality as they could see that they would wait for the department forever.
“We don’t want to get involved in politics, but the condition of the school is very bad. All we want is for our children to have a safe space to learn so that they can produce even better results,” said the teacher.
KZN Education MEC Mbali Frazer said that the R89 million they received for sterling performance will be used for improving infrastructure at schools.
The KZN Department of Education received a massive bonus from the National Treasury after scoring high marks during a performance assessment conducted in 2023.
