Hopes of blind learners fade as new Limpopo school lies abandoned

Despite multi-million rand construction at a Limpopo school having begun a few years ago, after several protests by learners for better learning conditions, blind and partially blind learners at the school continue to attend their classes in dilapidated and crumbling buildings, while their new, incomplete school has been left neglected.

Situated a few metres from Elim Hospital, Rivoni School for the Blind is one of six schools in Limpopo that accommodate visually-impaired and blind learners from grades R to 12.

Though the school continues to produce top-performing grade 12 learners each year, since its inception in 2006, they still attend their lessons inside buildings which are not conducive for learning and teaching. Learners at Rivoni are also subjected to the use of old and outdated braille machines.

After consistent protests by Rivoni learners, spanning 2016 to 2020, the provincial department of education finally committed to building a new school for Rivoni learners.

Unfinished and overgrown

Construction commenced in early 2022 and was due to be completed in June 2024, but to date, Rivoni learners continue to wait for the completion of their new school. The R198-million school project has been left to ruin before its completion. Grass has overgrown the construction yard, while some of the buildings have been damaged.

A teacher at Rivoni, who wished to remain anonymous, told Elitsha that she is slowly losing hope of ever teaching her learners inside proper buildings with modern learning equipment. She has been teaching at Rivoni for over a decade.

“We have been waiting for years and we continue to wait and no one is saying anything about what is happening. The school we have been promised years back has been neglected, while the building at the old school is deteriorating. The situation we find ourselves under is very bad,” she says.

The teacher further indicated that her worst fear is that she might retire before the new school is completed. “Some of the learners had hoped to attend their lessons inside a new school but they have since completed their matric, without having set their feet inside the new school yard due to the slow process in terms of construction. So, now I also fear that I might go on pension before the construction is completed,” she says.

Since its inception more than two decades ago, Rivoni has been operating inside old buildings that used to belong to the now defunct Lemana Educational College. Rivoni is the only school in Vhembe which is able to offer secondary education to blind and partially blind learners.

Sylvester Mulaudzi, a resident of Waterval outside of Elim, who has supported Rivoni learners’ protests since 2016, told Elitsha that they have grown tired of raising their concerns with the provincial department of education as they continue to be ignored.

“The new school was supposed to have long been completed by now but look, we continue to wait. Construction has stalled and no one cares to explain to us as a community what is happening or when can we expect the construction to be completed,” says Mulaudzi.

Living in ‘shameful’ accommodation

Most Rivoni learners stay inside the school premises, but Mulaudzi describes their living conditions as a ‘shame’. “To be honest these learners deserve better. They are suffering. They do not have proper classrooms and they also do not have proper accommodation and our government seems not to care. Why don’t they prioritise completing the new school so that our learners can learn and live under proper buildings,” says Mulaudzi.

But the provincial spokesperson for education in Limpopo, Mike Maringa denies claims that the construction of the new Rivoni School has been neglected. “The project is not neglected; we only had a challenge with the current rains. The contract [with the builders] is terminated. We will advertise a tender for a new contractor next week to complete the project,” says Maringa.