More than 1,500 Eastern Cape schools are overcrowded
More than 1,500 schools in the Eastern Cape are considered to be overcrowded.
Schools are categorised as overcrowded when they exceed the total number of pupils as per the prescribed teacher-to-pupil ratio.
The figure was revealed in Eastern Cape education MEC Fundile Gade’s answers to parliamentary questions from the DA.
Admitting that 1,514 schools in the province were overcrowded, Gade said the ratio varied in primary and high schools.
He said primary schools that were considered overcrowded had one teacher for every 40 pupils, while in high schools it was one teacher for every 35 pupils.
In the context of Covid-19, which requires strict social distancing to avoid the spread of the virus, the figures were a concern.
Gade said: “Where schools are overcrowded, the department ensured that schools follow rotational timetables to accommodate social distancing.”
DA MPL and shadow MEC for education Yusuf Cassim said overcrowding was only one of a number of obstacles that negatively affected schools.
In January, the Dispatch reported on fears teachers faced in the province, which included issues of overcrowded classrooms that made it difficult to comply with Covid-19 regulations.
The Dispatch has also reported on schools such as Atwell Madala High in Mthatha that are so overcrowded that five pupils share a desk.
Cassim said: “Overcrowded classrooms, inappropriate sanitation and even the removal of temporary toilet facilities all add to an unsafe environment at schools.”
Gade said during the 2020 academic year 1,598 schools in the province had inadequate sanitation.
The Amathole East district led with 268 schools, OR Tambo Coastal had 241 while OR Tambo Inland had 219 schools with inadequate sanitation conditions.
Buffalo City Metro had 60 schools while Nelson Mandela Bay had one.
Gade said the department, through basic education, had provided toilets to 692 schools out of the 1,598 under the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (Safe) programme from June 1 to December 15 2020.
Safe was established to replace pit toilets with appropriate sanitation in accordance to the norms and standards set for school infrastructure.
Cassim said since the programme’s inception by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018, it had had its challenges.
“In the 2016-2017 financial year, the department managed to upgrade the sanitation facilities of 88 schools.
“In 2017-2018, they managed to upgrade 86 schools and the year after that, in the 2018-2019 financial year, only 44 schools,” Cassim said.
He said in the 2019-2020 financial year, only 32 schools had been upgraded, “when the original target was 262 which was then reduced to 178”.
In the 2020-2021 financial year, 24 schools had their sanitation facilities upgraded when the target was 240, Cassim said.
Gade said basic education had provided mobile toilets to mitigate Covid-19 complexities.
However, they terminated the programme in December 2020 due to financial constraints. It was not sustainable, he said.
Cassim said the provincial department had supplied only 970 schools with temporary toilet structures, which were leased.
“As of April 2021, only 86 schools have been provided with safe sanitation.
“The remaining schools are not compliant with the Covid19 safety regulations, which puts our learners, teachers and school staff at high risk,” Cassim said.