In less than a week following the closure of both primary and secondary schools, Molefi Secondary School has once again been closed down after students disrupted a meeting that was addressed by David Ratsatsi, the Ministry Of Education’s Assistant Permanent Secretary on Friday.
The ministry says it acted to close down the school temporarily because of the advice they got from parents who were also part of the meeting.
On the other hand, Bakgatla paramount chief said it was too early for the ministry to have the schools open.
In a brief interview with Sunday Standard, Ratsatsi said, “It is true that we had a meeting with parents and students on Friday morning but, while the meeting was still on, a group of students from outside the hall came in where the meeting was held and disrupted it.”
He added: “We were calm and we let them do what they had planned.”
Ratsatsi said the meeting was then called off and postponed to this coming Tuesday.
He said the meeting will only be attended by parents while the school shall remain temporarily closed until Tuesday.
“We acted upon the advice of the parents who felt that the school should be closed temporarily until Tuesday,” he said, adding that the meeting will decide the way forward.
He appealed to parents to come to come to the meeting in large numbers to map the way forward.
However, some parents have blamed the ministry for re-opening the schools too early before they fully assessed the safety and security of students.
“I have been called here to the school but the meeting was not fruitful,” said one parent, asking why the ministry rushed to re-open the schools.
“This is a clear indication that the ministry is failing to contain the situation,” she said.
Another parent said, “The ministry has to take the blame for the chaos that it has caused to the schools.”
On Friday around lunch time, the students went to the main kgotla where they were addressed by the paramount chief of Bakgatla, Kgafela Kgafela.
Bana Sekai, the deputy chief, welcomed the students and asked them to voice out why they are in the main kgotla.
The Molefi students told the chief that they are not being taught because there are no teachers or even the promised temporary teachers.
They pointed out that their headmaster is giving them a tough time because of his lack of leadership.
