This follows yet another incident in which a school classroom was reportedly destroyed by fire. In the early hours of Saturday (4/4), one of the classrooms in the Grade 8 block at FM Ramaboa Technical School in Itsoseng township, near Lichtenburg, was gutted by flames.

Two teachers received a call from the school principal, who was unable to attend the scene, informing them the school was on fire. He urged them to rush to the school to assess the extent of the damage.

Gate locked

Upon arrival, the teachers found the police and fire department officials already on the scene. The school gate was locked, and the authorities had to break the chains to gain access to the premises.

The fire was eventually extinguished, but significant damage had already been caused. Provincial education spokesperson Vuyo Mantshule confirmed 48 chairs, 32 desks, a chalkboard, ceiling, classroom tiles, and textbooks were destroyed in the blaze.

A case of malicious property damage has since been registered at the police station.

North West education MEC Viola Motsumi condemned the incident, describing it as a serious setback to the department’s efforts to improve school infrastructure.

“On behalf of the department, I wish to condemn in the strongest terms this barbaric incident, which seeks to destroy learners’ education. I call on the police to get to the bottom of this incident and arrest whoever is responsible.”

“Such culprits need to be given the harshest sentence to show others that destroying educational assets is not the way to go. 

“As a department, we are concerned about these incidents of damage to school assets. Every time during school recess, we receive these types of reports at our schools. I appeal to community members to remain alert to any suspicious activity at schools and to report it to their nearest police station.“ 

OFM News has previously reported on several schools engulfed by fire in North West. The province continues to face infrastructure challenges, with some learners being relocated to other schools, leading to overcrowding.

It was reported last year that only eleven out of 1,471 schools in the province are in excellent condition.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi dg

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