KAMHLUSHWA- Mtimandze Secondary School ha joined the long list of schools in the sub-region, which still struggle to sit their learners. There is an acute shortage of furniture. The two-year-old school has eighteen classes, six of which have no tables and chairs at all. Three grade 8 classes have been supplied with old tables and old chairs from other schools around Nkomazi. One of the school teachers told Nkomazi Voice that all the chairs and tables are very old and some of them are broken. Some of the chairs are too small to be used by secondary school learners they have, apparently, been sourced from primary schools. This school extends to grade 11 and it will hopefully extend to grade 12 thus creating more problems for authorities.

“I am tall but I have to sit in a small chair that is suitable for a pre-school learner and my table is very old. I don’t enjoy attending school because of this problem,” said one of the school girls. Mfana Lushaba, the regional director of Ehlanzeni’s Department of Education said he didn’t receive any letter from the school principal stating that there is a shortage of furniture at the school. He however sounded upbeat about prospects of assisting the school. “Those chairs and tables were taken from Zandile Primary School as a stop-gap measure. We are aware of our responsibility to provide furniture to schools and we will deliver on it despite administrative processes that some times take longer than we want,” said Mkhipheni Mwale, the communication officer of Ehlanzeni’s Department of Education.