Cape Town - The ANC in the provincial legislature has accused the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) of “poor planning and lack of foresight” for overcrowding and unplaced pupils in the province.
In 2022 Cabinet announced the end of the rotational school learning system, allowing the return of all pupils to classrooms.
However, it has emerged Murray High School in Plettenberg Bay continued with the system throughout 2022, and three weeks into the 2023 academic year, this was persisting.
According to Murray High School Governing Body (SGB) chairperson Sandiso Kabayi, some classes had (between) 60 and 70 pupils.
“Things are a mess here, we have been using the Covid-19 regulations of rotational learning since they were introduced. We informed the department about the overcrowding and teacher to pupil ratio.
This school accepts children from about four primary schools. It also accommodates pupils who come from far areas like Tsitsikama. Grade 8 and 9 are the challenges where rotation learning is in place,” said Kabayi.
He said the school proposed that mobile classrooms be brought in as a short solution and another high school be built for the long term.
“We don’t know for how long this will continue, the term is ending in March and there seems to be no movement to date. Maybe if the school was (in) town this would have been resolved by now, we have really been patient with WCED.
The department seems like it doesn’t care about our children,” he said.
WCED said it was waiting for a district update on the Murray High School matter by deadline.
ANC education spokesperson Khalid Sayed held a media briefing on Monday, calling for WCED to to accelerate the delivery of additional classes and teachers at Murray and Qhayiya High Schools.
“What is happening at Murray High is by design; it is not an isolated case. It is by design that all schools in previously disadvantaged communities are overcrowded and have a shortage of teachers and facilities, while the affluent former Model C schools remain largely underutilised with small class sizes.
There is no quality education that can be obtained under such circumstances,” said Sayed.
He said while the WCED claimed to have placed 98% of Grades 1 and 8 pupils, they were clueless where the pupils had been placed.
“This crisis as well as overcrowding is as a result of poor planning, a lack of foresight.”
According to the department, as of February 6, they were in the process of placing 1 476 pupils in Grades 1 and 8.
The WCED said it had resolved 120 485 – 98.8% placement applications –for the two grades.
MEC David Maynier on Sunday said over the past few weeks the WCED had been inundated with new late applications.
“We have received new, extremely late applications for 3 391 Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners since January for the 2023 school year.
We have already placed 2 066 of these applicants, and placement is in progress for 1 325 of the Grade 1 and Grade 8 learners for whom applications were received extremely late.”
“These applications pose a great challenge for the department, as they are arriving daily in an unpredictable pattern. At Qhayiya High, the parents of 63 learners arrived in February demanding placement at the school. It is extremely difficult to cater to learners who arrive after schools started and whose parents never applied. We ask for patience as we make progress in placing these extremely late applicants,” said Maynier.
He said it would take some time to redirect resources to cater for the pupils but this was under way.
Cape Times