Solly Msimanga
Gauteng, the fastest-growing South African province, requires additional educational opportunities and a better curriculum to equip learners with the skills required for our country’s economy.
Despite efforts, the current Gauteng government has struggled to meet this demand, as it has consistently failed to uphold children’s right to a safe and conducive learning environment.
Multiple oversight inspections of schools across Gauteng have exposed the shocking reality that the education system is on the brink of collapse due to the inability of the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) to prioritise infrastructure development.
The quality of education at Relebogile Secondary School in Carletonville is at risk due to the severe shortage of furniture and inadequate sanitation.
Meanwhile, Kliptown Secondary School is experiencing severe toilet shortages, with over 1 200 students forced to share only 20 toilets, resulting in inconvenience and discomfort.
The GDE’s neglect of infrastructure is also apparent in schools like Sizwe Secondary School in Germiston, where learners are crammed into asbestos-filled classrooms and the teacher-to-learner ratio is an average of 60:1.
The existence of asbestos classrooms even after 30 years of democracy is alarming, considering the potential health and safety hazards it presents to teachers and learners. It is disheartening to note that, despite their yearly commitments to eradicating asbestos infrastructure, the GDE has failed to take appropriate action in this regard.
A conducive learning environment is a myth under the current Gauteng government.
However, the difficulties in the Gauteng education system do not end there. In some sections of our province, children face the harshness of rotational learning.
During an oversight inspection for the 2024 school readiness at Theresa Park Secondary School in Pretoria North, we discovered that learners only attend school twice a week due to capacity constraints. This is unacceptable, as the GDE should be building schools in high-demand areas and providing temporary classrooms to ensure that all learners have uninterrupted access to education.
Additionally, the completion of the GDE’s school construction is often hindered by corruption or shoddy workmanship. To substantiate this, Inkululeko Yesizwe Primary School in Vlakfontein, where the construction of a permanent school to replace existing mobile classrooms began in 2020, has come to a halt.
In the meantime, the school is struggling with severe overcrowding as this essential project remains incomplete. The situation at this school mirrors that of Nancefield Primary School in Eldorado Park, where construction was halted because the chosen contractor was unable to meet the October 1, 2022 deadline.
An excellent example of bad workmanship in school construction is the Nokuthula School for Learners with Special Education Needs (LSEN). The state-of-the-art school, which cost taxpayers R300 million to build, has been falling apart since it was blown off by a hailstorm in 2022. There have been complaints about shoddy workmanship and infrastructural flaws since it opened in 2017.
These examples contrast with the DA in the Western Cape, which has successfully delivered proper brand-new schools in under-served communities in 65 to 71 days through its Rapid School Build plan. This is a clear indication of how a competent sub-national, DA-led government is taking the initiative and moving forward with projects that improve the lives of our country’s citizens.
Recent fatalities in Gauteng schools and on school excursions since the beginning of the 2024 academic year also call into question the current government’s ability to handle school safety. In January this year, a Grade 7 pupil from Laerskool Queenswood in Pretoria drowned on a school excursion at a resort in Ekurhuleni. A month later, the principal of Primrose Hill Primary School in Germiston was shot and wounded by a Grade 6 learner.
There are many more examples showing that our schools are no longer safe. The DA has repeatedly urged the Gauteng government to implement an integrated safety approach inclusive of school governing bodies and the community to ensure the safety of teachers and learners.
It is in response to this call and the pressure placed on the government that the Gauteng portfolio committee on community safety moved to develop a Focus Intervention Study (FIS) report on the implementation of school safety regulations. While this is a step in the right direction to ensure school safety, it will not be helpful unless actual action is taken.
The DA government is committed to rescuing Gauteng’s children from inferior public education and creating conducive environments for the delivery of quality education.
This we will do by enhancing education, training and innovation within the province; constructing, upgrading, and maintaining new and existing infrastructure in all Gauteng public schools and places of learning; creating a safe and supportive environment free from the threat of violence, crime and bullying; implementing a strategy to reduce Gauteng’s overwhelming dropout rate, currently sitting at 200 000 learners; and promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) education.
This is a list of practical remedies the DA intends to implement to repair the disintegrating educational system. It will only be possible for us to do that if Gauteng voters elect us as their government of choice.
Unless that happens, roofs in our schools will continue to collapse, schools will remain a danger zone, and not all learners will enjoy 210 full teaching days per year.
Solly Msimanga MPL is the DA Gauteng premier candidate.