BY PHUMLANI SAUL
trimmings and worth R63m was presented to the Kariega community on Friday amid much excitement.
Eastern Cape education MEC Fundile Gade officially handed over the keys to the Noninzi Luzipho Primary School in KwaNobuhle as parents and community members sang songs.
The school started from humble beginnings, with pupils being taught in informal structures before moving into a church in 2001, and then Wendy houses in 2002.
As the SA and school flags were hoisted on Friday, dignitaries from the department of education, staff, police officers and the school choir sang the national anthem with pride.
School governing body chair Aletta April told DK news they had made a plea for a new school in 2009 and were over the moon when the request was finally approved.
“Construction at the school started in 2018,” she said.
“We did not think it would ever be this beautiful, but the department has surprised us.
“Our area has a lot of young people who are involved with drugs, and there is a lot of crime.
“We are hopeful that there can now be a change in our community for our children, because we have a learner support programme where the teacher can work with social development to help the children overcome any challenges they are facing.”
Principal Vuyani Singeni told Daily Kasi News “this was one of the proudest moments in the school’s history and he was left speechless when he reflected on how the school had started”
“I am on top of the world today. We are celebrating with the teachers, and the children who now actually feel as though they are in a school. The teachers are feeling motivated.”
Singeni joined the school in September 2021The teachers would tell me how cold it used to get in the classrooms. Only a few children would come to school because of this.
“It was tough times back then. Criminals had easy access to steal, because there was no fence or security,” Singeni said.
All they were waiting for now was for the school hall to be completed.
Gade said that three years ago the department had realised the problem of schools that were too small and without enough resources.
“The problem with those schools is that they cannot give you quality education.”
The school now boasts 29 classrooms, computer labs, a library, advanced science lab, and an administrative block.
The non-fee paying school has also been properly fenced, with a netball court inside the schoolyard, among other things.
“To ensure each pupil’s human dignity is preserved, we have employed social workers to have constant interaction with the children once we pick up a problem,” Gade said.
He said the department’s challenge was to ensure all children who enrolled in grade R made it to grade 12, and schools such as Noninzi Luzipho would help it realise that goal.
Daily Kasi News 