Yesterday (Thursday) saw the dreaded teachers strike become a reality. We were aware it was going to happen as we had Eman (the vice-principle) and Tony (a teacher on Senior Management) around for a curry the night before. They outlined the situation for us. Still the scene on Wednesday morning was worse than expected and to make matters worse the weather was atrocious (like a cold wet January day in England (the photo from our patio sums it up I think)! 
Clearly it would not be possible to run activities for the learners down on the sports field but it would be too dangerous to run activities in the school compound as people might think that we are teaching and so become aggressive towards us or the learners. Our hands are really tied and there is virtually nothing we can do – this is extremely frustrating). The learners (what the South African’s call their pupils) from the hostel were milling around the school at 8am unaware of the situation, but very aware of the fact that they had not even been given breakfast! (The hostel staffs’ response to the strikes). Eventually word got around that they were all meant to meet in the assembly hall where the principle would address them so off everyone went to assembly.
When we arrived in the assembly hall all the learners were singing and dancing away as they do every Friday – it is a truly amazing site to witness and I am not going to try to put a photograph or video up of it as nothing I have so far would do it justice. Eventually the Principle arrived to address the learners. He explained the situation to them. The school is not allowed to say to the learners “go home” - they themselves have to decide to do so. It was difficult for us to understand the situation since they had to speak in Xohsa to ensure all the learners understood everything. The Principle explained afterwards that the learners had decided they should all go home as they face the risk of violence or even arson attacks on the hostel should they stay! I do not think we sometimes realise how lucky we are that such a sorry state of affairs is virtually unheard of in the UK.
So off the learners have gone – they have made or are doing their best to make their way home. Some of them have very long journeys to make – for how long no-one knows…. The Grade 12 exams were meant to be starting next Thursday – whether they will now is anyone’s guess. Last night the situation in the country was really worrying – six teachers were shot in protests in Johannesburg yesterday when the police thought they had lost control of the progress. There have also been reports of hospitals being blocked by protestors. Whether the state hospitals even have a skeleton staff running is not clear since there were reports of 45 prematurely born babies having to be moved into privately run hospitals.
Clearly it would not be possible to run activities for the learners down on the sports field but it would be too dangerous to run activities in the school compound as people might think that we are teaching and so become aggressive towards us or the learners. Our hands are really tied and there is virtually nothing we can do – this is extremely frustrating). The learners (what the South African’s call their pupils) from the hostel were milling around the school at 8am unaware of the situation, but very aware of the fact that they had not even been given breakfast! (The hostel staffs’ response to the strikes). Eventually word got around that they were all meant to meet in the assembly hall where the principle would address them so off everyone went to assembly.When we arrived in the assembly hall all the learners were singing and dancing away as they do every Friday – it is a truly amazing site to witness and I am not going to try to put a photograph or video up of it as nothing I have so far would do it justice. Eventually the Principle arrived to address the learners. He explained the situation to them. The school is not allowed to say to the learners “go home” - they themselves have to decide to do so. It was difficult for us to understand the situation since they had to speak in Xohsa to ensure all the learners understood everything. The Principle explained afterwards that the learners had decided they should all go home as they face the risk of violence or even arson attacks on the hostel should they stay! I do not think we sometimes realise how lucky we are that such a sorry state of affairs is virtually unheard of in the UK.
So off the learners have gone – they have made or are doing their best to make their way home. Some of them have very long journeys to make – for how long no-one knows…. The Grade 12 exams were meant to be starting next Thursday – whether they will now is anyone’s guess. Last night the situation in the country was really worrying – six teachers were shot in protests in Johannesburg yesterday when the police thought they had lost control of the progress. There have also been reports of hospitals being blocked by protestors. Whether the state hospitals even have a skeleton staff running is not clear since there were reports of 45 prematurely born babies having to be moved into privately run hospitals.
To say the situation is not good is an understatement. I can see both sides of the argument… The sooner the situation is sorted out though the better for everyone in South Africa.
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