The KZN Education Department has confirmed that all schools in KwaZulu-Natal are fully operational as waters have subsided after the storms that have left the province in an unpleasant state.
Six schools in Ladysmith were not accessible due to bridges being covered by the water.
The KZN Education Department said that it had not anticipated that the storms were going to wreak havoc.
In an ENCA live interview, KZN Education Minister Kwazi Mshengu said: we had to replace the damaged classes with mobile classrooms as an interim measure.
The Education Department had put up a contingency plan for learners of the affected schools to be allowed to attend other schools that are accessible so that learning and teaching time is not lost.
UKZN's Marine Geology Research Unit Head Andrew Green said:
The work that we've done points to the idea that we should be experiencing more severe and probably more frequent tropical cyclones in the future, so it's one of those things we can't say when exactly but we certainly know that in the future it's coming and something I would imagine far more severe than what played itself out with cyclone La Nina.
Mshengu shared that 72% of schools in the province are in rural areas, where most of these occurrences take place and that it won’t be easy for the department to move these schools.
The Education Department has made submissions to the Provincial Treasury and the Premier’s office for the estimated repairs for the damaged schools that cost more than R200 million.
