Petition: Save Umkomaas Secondary School

We, the undersigned parents and community members of Umkomaas, are deeply concerned about the ongoing mismanagement and crisis at Umkomaas Secondary School, the only high school in our area.

Our Concerns:

Education Assistants misused – EAs are being made to teach learners the syllabus, even though they are not qualified teachers. Some are also being used in admin work while paid admin staff neglect their duties.

Unfair teacher timetables – We demand that the Department send experts to check all teacher allocations and ensure they comply with the PAM document.

Leadership and management failure – For years, the school has been in crisis with ongoing misconduct, weak discipline, and poor labour practices. Learners, staff, and the community have lost confidence in the way the school is being run.

Department ignoring the community – Despite repeated complaints and reports, the Circuit Manager and the District Director have not taken decisive action to address the problems.

Our Demand:

We call on the Department of Education to immediately:

1. Place Umkomaas Secondary School under administration for a minimum of 2 years, with direct departmental management.

2. Audit all teacher allocations, timetables, and EA usage to ensure fairness and compliance with policy.

3. Stop EAs from teaching learners – qualified temporary teachers must be appointed if necessary.

Our children deserve a safe, properly managed school. We will not sit back while their future is destroyed.