Parents of learners at the uMkhumbane Secondary, in Mayville, Durban trying to stop learners who were intending to protest the disruption of classes that was caused by a teachers' boycott triggered by the installation of CCTV cameras in class earlier this week.
Image: ZIMBILI VILAKAZI
Studies have once again been derailed at uMkhumbane Secondary School in Mayville, Durban, following the principal’s summary suspension on Tuesday. The school has been in the news lately after teachers boycotted classes in protest against the installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in classrooms aimed at curbing theft and bullying.
According to a parent, Xolile Buhlalu, principal Ntokozo Ngobese was suspended after a meeting with the circuit manager arranged by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and the school governing body (SGB).
Buhlalu said that after Ngobese’s suspension, some parents who had been waiting outside the school gate for feedback reacted angrily and locked the gate with a chain and padlock.
“Parents of Grade 12 learners were called into a meeting to discuss issues relating to the ongoing tensions at the school over the CCTV camera installation. While the meeting was underway, a teacher arrived and announced that it must disperse because the principal had been suspended,” said Buhlalu.
A teachers' boycott has escalated to a parents protest at uMkhumbane Secondary School, in Mayville, Durban following the summary suspension of the principal over the classroom CCTV camera standoff that has played out for weeks.
Image: SCREENSHOT
She said parents later discovered that the circuit manager, who was present at the school, had delivered a suspension letter to Ngobese.
Buhlalu said parents were incandescent with rage, accusing factions within the school of using their children as pawns in a battle for positions.
On Wednesday, parents staged their own protest demanding clarity on the reasons for Ngobese’s suspension.
The summary suspension of the principal of uMkhumbane Secondary School in Mayville, Durban, has triggered a parents' protest for his reinstatement. Ntokozo Ngobese was suspended on Tuesday following a meeting between the school governing body and a respresentative from the Department of Education. The school has been bedevelled by a teachers' boycott over the installatiion of CCTV cameras in classrooms to curb incidents of theft and bullying.
Image: SUPPLIED
“We want an explanation about the letter given to the principal,” she said.
Buhlalu emphasised that parents want the installed cameras to remain and for the principal to be reinstated.
Phumzile Kubheka of Ubhaqa Networks, a non-profit organisation championing transformation through education, expressed grave concern about the developments.
“Tests are starting on March 13. Learners have already lost three weeks of learning. We are worried about what they will write in their assessments with only ten days remaining,” said Kubheka.
The first-term tests form part of the continuous school-based assessments that make up 25% of the final mark for Grade 12.
Kubheka said they do not fault Ngobese, describing his leadership record as impeccable and unsullied.
Phumzile Kubheka of Ubhaqa Networks, a non-profit organisation that champions transformation through education has accused some of the teachers of having hidden agendas that have nothing to do with the classroom CCTV cameras dispute at uMkhumbane Secondary School where classes have been disrupted for weeks.
Image: UBHAQA NETWORKS
“The matric class has achieved a 100% pass rate for nine consecutive years. Parents are satisfied with the principal and his management team,” she said.
She accused certain teachers of advancing agendas unrelated to the CCTV dispute.
“They were invited several times to explain their opposition to the cameras, but they did not attend. Even after Ngobese offered to remove the cameras, they did not return. All they do is come to school, spend time at a nearby shebeen, and discuss how to disrupt learners’ academic progress,” Kubheka alleged.
Twenty-two of the school’s 39 teachers have boycotted classes in protest against the camera installation. Ngobese, who has led the school for 20 years, proposed installing the cameras to curb theft of uniforms, stationery and other supplies.
Teachers opposed the move, arguing that it was intended to monitor them and infringed on their privacy.
SGB member Nomonde Mtumtum said she could not comment extensively before the SGB held its own meeting but confirmed that the principal had been suspended.
Attempts to obtain comment from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education were unsuccessful at the time of publication.