Uproar over merger of two Phoenix schools
The decision to merge two schools in Phoenix has caused an uproar in the community.
Officials from KZN Education met with parents, teachers, and the school governing body on Wednesday night to explain the move to combine Sastri Park and Woodview Secondary schools.
Some 700 pupils from Sastri Park Secondary School were moved to Woodview Secondary School earlier this year.
Chairperson of Woodview Secondary School’s SGB Sharon Sewraj says parents had no choice in the matter.
"The department had told us that Ottawa Primary School was actually sharing premises with Woodview Secondary and needed the space, so they intend on converting Sastri Park Secondary to a primary school and that was the reason. It was something that was forced onto the community.
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"When meetings were held and notices were sent out, very little time was given to parents, and they didn't have enough time to get to the meeting. Also, the parents that attended the meeting had raised questions and things that would not have worked for them and that had not paid heed to."
Sewraj says the number of pupils at Woodview has increased from just over 400 to more than 1,100.
Parents have written a letter to the department, raising several concerns, including a shortage of toilets.
"People are struggling at the moment to put food on their table. Now, with the distance a lot of the kids that were attending Sastri Park Secondary were kids that reside in KwaMashu which will make quite a distance for them to be walking to and from.
"Some of the parents were now forced to look for transport, which is an addition of R500 to R600 a month, which parents don't even have.”
KZN Department of Education is yet to comment.
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