Calls for principal’s removal at Franklin D Roosevelt Primary, JHB

Members of the School Governing Body (SGB) at Franklin D Roosevelt Primary School in Johannesburg have joined parents in their protest outside the school gates, demanding the removal of principal Victor Matloga.

The School Governing Body (SGB) says teacher absenteeism is at an alarming level, raising concerns about the quality of education learners are receiving.

They allege that Grade Seven learners have missed several lessons, particularly in Afrikaans, due to teachers being absent.

Gauteng MEC for Education Lebogang Maile is expected to respond to this matter on Tuesday.

The SGB has also questioned how learners were assessed, claiming that Grade Seven pupils received the same mark for Afrikaans despite concerns about limited teaching and assessment.

SGB chairperson Fagmoedien Otto says the situation is affecting the learners’ education.

Otto says, “The absenteeism is on a very, very high level.

Grade sevens, I think that they were only taught properly in the first term for Afrikaans.

After that, it’s been on and off, different teachers absent, you know, in substitute classes and so forth.

So, in the second term, they basically had zero, it’s very little classes of Afrikaans, and they were all given one mark, the same mark.

All the whole grade sevens, one Afrikaans mark.

So that tells you already that there was no proper assessment done, because how can everybody get the exact same mark? It makes zero, zero sense.”