140 pupils crammed into one classroom
Court bid to force department to take action
Luyanda Maqegu sits in her classroom at Dudumayo Senior Secondary School but she has no space of her own because here, in the village of Ngcwanguba in rural Eastern Cape, she shares that class with 140 other pupils.
“I sit in a chair… and write on my lap,” she said. “There are so many of us that there is not enough room for everyone to have a desk. Only about 35 of us have desks.”
Her grade 11 B2 class has 140 pupils, and is one of five classes at Dudumayo that has more than 100 pupils. Two others have more than 90 pupils.
In fact, only the grade 12C class, which has 50 pupils, is even remotely close to meeting the government-mandated limit of 40 pupils per class.
This situation – described as unsafe, unhealthy and not conducive to teaching or learning – is laid bare in a court case filed last month at the high court in Mthatha.
Lodged with the assistance of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), “concerned parents” at Dudumayo, Attwell Madala and Mnceba senior secondary schools and Enduku Junior Secondary School are demanding that the Eastern Cape government and education department urgently address the “severe” overcrowding. They want a combined 77 emergency classrooms built at the four schools.
The education department did not respond to questions sent to it on Friday and again on Monday. The department is also yet to file responding court papers.
Maqegu, whose statement is contained in the court papers, which are in Sowetan’s sister publication Times Select’s possession, continued: “I cannot always hear my teachers when they talk because other learners – particularly those at the back – make noise. Because we are so many, the teacher often cannot identify who it is in the back making noise. Teachers struggle to keep the class in order.”
One of her teachers, Thobeka Balangile, said the situation was equally frustrating for educators.
“Learners need individualised attention. As a teacher, I want to know who my students are and where they come from. But the room is so
‘ ‘ As a teacher , I want to know my students but don’t have room to walk
full of learners that I don’t have room to walk around.”
A parent at Attwell Madala, Andreus Ndoyisile Fudumele, said in an affidavit that the overcrowded conditions were similar across all four schools – and that they were seriously detrimental to the futures of the pupils they affect.
“… the overcrowding negatively impacts both learners and teachers. When desks have been squeezed in, as many as five learners are sitting at desks intended for two. Such extreme overcrowding also poses serious health and safety risks. Learners sit shoulder to shoulder in rooms with little ventilation and no climate control, facilitating the easy spread of illness.”
Fudumele said the education department was aware of the situation in all four of the schools but that little or no intervention has taken place.
The LRC said in a statement: “The court application will, hopefully, lead to a court order which results in classrooms being built at… all overcrowded schools in the Mthatha and Amathole districts.”
The case has not yet been set down for hearing.