Photo for illustration. (Photo: iStock)
Solidarity’s Teacher Network warns of signs that the Gauteng education system could collapse without an urgent plan on expanding infrastructure, creating capacity and meeting essential responsibilities.
Lebogang Maile, Gauteng MEC for education, admitted that 48% of this province’s schools and 64% of its high schools are overcrowded and that there are more than 80,000 too few places for high school students.
“This is not simply an administrative problem, but a complete crisis,” says Johan Botha, head of Solidarity’s Teacher Network.
“The education system is in shambles nationwide, but especially in Gauteng. In the economic heartland, it is currently only being held up by dedicated, overworked teachers and inadequate infrastructure that has long since reached its breaking point. When almost half of the schools are overcrowded, we are no longer talking about a challenge. It is a systemic crisis. It is our children’s future that is at stake here.”
The Solidarity Teachers Network’s demands that it makes to the Gauteng education department is to move from vague promises to transparent, measurable action as a matter of extreme urgency.
“A public, detailed multi-year infrastructure plan with clear milestones, budgets and timelines is urgently needed. The public must be able to see every quarter which projects are progressing, which contractors are performing and why there are delays. The time for vague announcements is over.”
According to Solidarity, the current rate at which schools are being built and expanded is hopelessly insufficient to cope with the growing demand. The education authority is failing in its task to act by reprioritizing budgets, cutting wastage and protecting existing schools’ remaining capacity.
“The forced cramming of learners into already overcrowded schools without additional and necessary resources is irresponsible and undermines the entire education system. This is how you push the only functional schools and the people who keep the system going to breaking point.”
Solidarity’s Teacher Network states unequivocally that accountability – or the lack thereof – is also a core issue.
“Who is held accountable for the repeating cycle of promises without delivery? Year after year we hear promises of new schools, but the real impact on the ground remains almost invisible.
“Meanwhile, teachers bear the brunt of the crisis. Overcrowded classrooms lead to more administration, less individual attention to learners and an increased risk of burnout. Discipline is more difficult to maintain, learner performance drops and the ability to achieve academic outcomes is seriously impaired.
“So this is not just a problem of insufficient infrastructure. It is a direct attack on the quality of teaching and on teachers’ ability to perform their work efficiently. This is also why so many good teachers leave the profession,” warns Botha.
Solidarity underlines how the department itself recognizes the problem as a systemic issue and argues that it is driven by factors such as migration, urbanization and the slow pace of new school development.
“Education in Gauteng and in the wider South Africa is headed for a crisis. Without urgent, effective intervention, the system will simply not be able to handle the pressure anymore and will collapse.”