THABA NCHU -The Free State Department of Education is counting the costs of extensive damage to the Boitumelong Special School in Thaba Nchu caused by a gale-force storm which wreaked havoc at midday on Monday, 24 November. The destructive storm ripped off multiple corrugated iron roofs of the school’s infrastructure.
The natural incident, which was due to inclement weather, has led to an abrupt standstill of learning and teaching programmes. The provincial department is yet to quantify the costs of rebuilding the badly damaged sections of the school’s infrastructure.
According to Howard Ndaba, spokesperson for the department, classes have been suspended for safe re-organisation and assessment of damage due to the natural disaster. He said the incident has affected 384 learners with severe intellectual disabilities, including 44 autistic learners. He says all learners were returned to their homes until further notice.
Ndaba said no fatalities occurred and that the injured teacher was on the mend. The teacher sustained a minor injury after part of the ceiling collapsed in one of the buildings at the school.
“Eight classrooms were damaged as multiple roofs were blown off. Several autistic learners experienced severe meltdowns due to the traumatic incident,” said Ndaba. He said the department was in the process of providing emergency intervention including psychosocial support for those experiencing post-traumatic stress.
“Infrastructure support is being mobilised to mitigate further damage from ongoing rainfall,” he said. The department is appealing for public assistance to restore damaged parts of the school’s infrastructure. “The school welcomes assistance from contractors, corporations, citizens, and stakeholders to restore the damaged infrastructure while the department continues working to stabilize the situation,” said Ndaba. He said the departmental engineers will start – today with assessment the situation to determine the costs and extend of damages to the school’s infrastructure.
In a separate incident in a Free State town of Petrusburg, gale-force storm blew away an empty 5 250 liter jojo water tanker of a farmer on Sunday, 23 November. Piet Ferreira of Nagverdiend farm, said he found his tanker 2 km away on the Buitendag farm of Veronica van Schalk.
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