Storm damage hits 20 North West schools, with toll expected to rise

Strong winds have damaged classrooms at 20 schools across South Africa's North West Province, with officials warning the number could climb once principals file further damage reports on Monday.

North West Education Department spokesperson Dr Elias Malindi said the figure was expected to increase as principals submitted reports directly upon arriving at their schools this week.

He said the department would send infrastructure teams to assess the scale of the damage and work out alternative arrangements to keep teaching and learning going at the affected schools.

Malindi described the storm damage as “adding salt to an open wound”, noting that the department was already dealing with the loss of three schools to fire.

“The department has been picking up the pieces and working to intervene at schools affected by the fires. Now, the storms have wreaked havoc on the remaining schools, adding further pressure to the already strained departmental infrastructure,” he said.

MEC for Education Dr Desbo Mohono said the immediate priority was to establish the extent of the damage, ensure the safety of learners and staff, and limit disruption to classes.

“We are working closely with relevant stakeholders and disaster management teams to respond to the affected schools and ensure that the necessary interventions are implemented as urgently as possible,” Mohono said, adding that the department understood the toll the situation was taking on affected school communities and would continue supporting them as far as possible.

The department said schools in the Ngaka Modiri Molema, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Bojanala and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati districts had all been affected by the storms.

The damage adds to a difficult few weeks for the province's school infrastructure. A mobile classroom at Phakisang Primary School was set alight on 29 August, after a general assistant received a call reporting a fire at the school and arrived to find books burning inside a mobile classroom.

A tyre and plastic hosepipes were also found burning beneath two further mobile classrooms nearby, though the fire was brought under control before it could spread further.

Separately, two schools in the Bojanala District were also destroyed by fire, further straining the department's infrastructure and its ability to provide functional learning environments.