FORMER Louis Rex Primary learners, Gino Redcliffe and Sheldon Bailey, have taken it upon themselves to get their now dilapidated school revamped, rather than wait for the Eastern Cape Department of Education to build proper structures that it had promised to do.
Among the school’s problems are old classrooms, mostly built with wood, which have now decayed, leaving wide holes on the walls, roof and floor.
Toilets are also broken and can’t accommodate all the school’s 1 000 learners.
The school also has a water shortage problem.
Seeing that things were getting worse while waiting for the government to take action, friends Redcliffe and Bailey recently put their minds together and came up with the idea to raise funds for the school.
And this wasn’t the conventional fundraiser.
The two members of Team Queenstown – a group of car enthusiasts – organised a car spinning show that attracted scores of all kinds of car fanatics.
The show was held inside the school’s premises with car stunt performers coming through from towns and cities like Kokstad, East London, King William’s Town, Aliwal North and Port Elizabeth.
Those who had come to witness the rare yet loved sport in Komani paid between R40 and R50 at the gate, with food stalls, live music and games for kiddies inside.
Asked how the idea came about, Redcliffe said he believed education was the only tool youngsters could use to better their lives and the communities they come from.
“This isn’t about Gino or Sheldon, but the entire community of Komani, as you can see people came out in numbers to support the event. I am a former learner at the school and it pains me to see one of the best performing schools going down like this, hence I decided to act, rather than to just whine,” said Redcliffe.
Bailey, whose child attends Louis Rex, said the school was more like a home to him that he had to look after.
“You look after the things you love and the school is one of them. We want to see children going to institutions of learning way better than what we were offered but unfortunately it’s not the case.
“And we can’t fold our arms while things fall apart; we challenge every resident who cares about the future of this town to join hands with us and help restore the school,” he said.
All the proceeds from Saturday’s event will be paid directly to the school.
Principal, Bevin Christoffels, said the school was in dire need of new infrastructure and money made from the event would make a huge difference.
“Sanitation is key, so we will do the toilets and move from one classroom to the next. Currently we have about 600 boys who have to share only 12 toilets and not all of them are functional. The ratio is totally skewed,” he said.
Cristoffels said they were told by the Department of Education that more than R150 million was needed to address their problems.
“We have all sorts of problems. Even water is an issue. The school doesn’t have a dedicated hall, as a result we were even thinking of breaking the partitioning wall to convert two classrooms into a hall but that, too, needs to be financed,” he said.
But the school’s water crisis will soon be a thing of the past, as one of the car spinners volunteered to drill a borehole at the school that will also be used by residents amid the prolonged drought in the area.
Spokesperson for the Department of Education, Malibongwe Mtima, couldn’t be reached on his cell to explain why construction hadn’t commenced at the school.
