No end in sight for classroom crisis in SA, says Motshekga

South Africa’s crisis of overcrowded classrooms is not going away any time soon, with the national department of basic education saying it does not have the R5bn to build 16,000 additional classrooms.

The startling figures came through in minister Angie Motshekga’s response to a parliamentary question regarding widespread overcrowding in classrooms.

In her written response Motshekga said the problem of overcrowding was common in schools that serve informal settlements due to immigration. She said funding was not available because the focus was rebuilding flood-ravaged areas in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and North West.

The question referred to the specific case of the Finetown Secondary School in Johannesburg which was shut down by angry parents citing poor conditions and overcrowded classrooms. There have been several reports of overcrowded schools in Gauteng resulting in some classes being held outdoors or in storage rooms at schools. 

“The department requires over R5bln to build over 16,000 additional classes to overcome overcrowding in the sector, Finetown Secondary included,” Motshekga said.

The department’s latest statistics show there are classroom shortages at 8,105 schools across the country.

Matakanye Matakanya, general secretary of the National Association of School Governing Bodies, said communities should consider coming up with solutions because children were being left behind while budget issues were still being figured out.

“I think it’s about time we call upon communities to improvise. We cannot stand by and wait while our children are left behind by the system,” he  said.

A 52-year-old teacher from the East Rand who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said the situation was frustrating.

“As we speak I have kids whose books I have not marked in two or three weeks. How can I reach all those children,” the teacher said.

He said some days he is forced to mark scripts at home in order to catch up.

“Class management has become such an issue. We even struggle to asses learners during lessons because there’s no space to move around,” the teacher said.

General secretary for the SA Democratic Teacher’s Union Mungwena Maluleka said the only solution was for the basic education department to reprioritise its budget and cut down on bureaucratic staff. 

“The level of bureaucracy in the department is massive,” he said. 

Yesterday education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the minister had initiated a special intervention to find cost-effective ways to provide additional classrooms because budget shortages were undermining the recovery programme.

The department’s special intervention document cites damage to some school buildings, increased admissions and the full return of learners as factors that are exasperating the problem.

“The building of additional classrooms is a slow process affected by red tape and bureaucratic processes. The supply of mobile classrooms has its own challenges,” it states.