Space for more?

JUSTISIA SHIPENA
Chevonné de Klerk



OKAHANDJA

Space has become limited at JG van der Wath Secondary School, with only about 19 classrooms left after four classrooms caught fire and burnt to ashes.

With limited space and the large number of learners who came from KW von Marëes Combined School as it no longer supports grade 10, one can only imagine the tight fit it must be at the school.

After the Covid-19 pandemic hit, schools were forced to proceed with caution and learners were asked to adhere to safety regulations. As per the rules, the school split grades in groups of two.

This just made the space situation worse as the learners were now double per grade class. Fortunately, the school came up with an idea that was temporary but effective. School started with the seniors only attending and that was easy enough, but soon enough the grade nine learners had to come back to school, having about five classes.

Because of this, they were taking up a lot of space so school days were divided amongst all the grades. The arrangements had the grade 12s and 11s going to school two days a week and the grade nine learners going three days a week.

Upon the arrival of the grade 10 and eight learners, the school became suffocated. Sending the seniors home to cater for the juniors was a not very much liked solution, but it was the only way as the school could by no means occupy that many learners.

With cases rising, parents are getting more and more worried and have panic attacks with alarms going off and widespread rumors in the community of people with possible Covid-19 cases.

Learners are also panicking about their future, especially the seniors. They hope that all this goes away and they may resume their much longed for senior year.