‘Mantoetse Maama & Seshophe Ramakoro
MASERU — One died on the spot.
Another is nursing a severed foot at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital.
Doctors say she is crippled for life.
Four others are reportedly fighting for their lives at the same hospital.
They have broken limbs, gushing bruises and serious head injuries.
If you think that a school is the last place you would expect to experience such a horrendous accident then you are wrong.
The six were students at St Alphonse High School, a private school in Masianokeng.
They were enjoying their morning break on the verandah of one of the school buildings on Tuesday when disaster struck.
The building collapsed and crushed them.
Remaketse Makhele, 16, a Form B student who was a double orphan, did not survive the accident.
She is expected to be buried next week.
Puleng Matala lost her foot.
Doctors are fighting to save the lives of ’Matseliso Mohanoe, ‘Mantheka Nthena, Ts’enolo Leisa and Ithabeleng Matlakeng.
Thabo Matsosa, a vendor who operates near the school, was one of the first people to arrive at the scene.
“They were under the rubble. The other girl’s head was crushed,” Matsosa recalls.
“I rescued those who were still alive.”
It’s not hard to understand why the building collapsed.
Most of the buildings at St Alphonse High School are dilapidated.
They are so shaky that they might carve in anytime soon.
The walls are falling apart.
The buildings were not meant to be classrooms in the first place.
The building that collapsed was more than half-a-century old and used to be a grocery shop.
Those that still remain standing were once used as a kitchen and a storage room before they were turned into classrooms.
Yet if the truth be told, the accident at St Alphonse High School could have happened at any of the many of the so-called private schools in Maseru that operate from shabby structures.
With little government supervision to maintain standards, most of the schools are operating from what might pass for hovels.
Very few private schools operate from proper structures.
So lax is the government supervision that some schools operate from shacks and many don’t feel obliged to provide proper ablution facilities for students.
Their classrooms are inhabitable.
Take Step Ahead High School in Maseru East, for instance.
The school has been operating for the past three years but it still does not have proper buildings.
Shabbily built corrugated structures are what students call classrooms.
Then there is Word of Faith High School in Thetsane which operates from a rundown building that looks like it used to be a supermarket.
The school has neither proper doors nor blackboards.
The roof is pinned down by a large bricks to presumably prevent it from being blown away.
Lesotho International College, in Sea-Point, used to be a business centre.
Nothing about it resembles a school.
Its windows are shattered and the paint on the walls is peeling off.
There are many schools like these in Lesotho.
But if the new Education Act recently passed by parliament is strictly implemented the schools might lose their operating licences.
The law makes it an offence for someone to operate a school in premises that have not been approved by the government.
Under the law, it is also an offence to run a school in dilapidated buildings.
New buildings on a school must be approved by the government.
The law empowers the government to close schools that are operating in premises that endanger the lives of students.
But until the government starts demanding that the standards set in the law are upheld, students at schools like Lesotho International College, Word of Faith High School and many other barebone colleges like them might have to do with learning in rundown buildings.
happened at any of the many of the so-called private schools in Maseru that operate from shabby structures.
With little government supervision to maintain standards, most of the schools are operating from what might pass for hovels.
So lax is the government supervision that some schools operate from shacks and many don’t feel obliged to provide proper ablution facilities for students.
Their classrooms are inhabitable.
Take Step Ahead High School in Maseru East, for instance.
The school has been operating for the past three years but it still does not have proper buildings.
Shabbily built corrugated structures are what students call classrooms.
Then there is Word of Faith High School in Thetsane which operates from a rundown building that looks like it used to be a supermarket.
The school has neither proper doors nor blackboards.
The roof is pinned down by a large bricks to presumably prevent it from being blown away.
Lesotho International College, in Sea-Point, used to be a business centre.
Nothing about it resembles a school.
Its windows are shattered and the paint on the walls is peeling off.
There are many schools like these in Lesotho.
But if the new Education Act recently passed by parliament is strictly implemented the schools might lose their operating licences.
The law makes it an offence for someone to operate a school in premises that have not been approved by the government.
Under the law, it is also an offence to run a school in dilapidated buildings.
New buildings on a school must be approved by the government.
The law empowers the government to close schools that are operating in premises that endanger the lives of students.
But until the government starts demanding that the standards set in the law are upheld, students at schools like Word of Faith High School and many other barebone colleges in the country might have to do with learning in rundown buildings.
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