South Africa: In 2013, Zakes Mda Was Horrified to See 110 Learners in a Class in This School. Twelve Years Later, Nothing Has Changed

A Third of Eastern Cape Schools Fail to Meet Standards

In 2013, Zakes Mda and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba visited rural schools in the Eastern Cape. They found crumbling, overcrowded classrooms. Twelve years later, conditions remain poor. The Eastern Cape Department of Education has not responded to our inquiries.

GroundUp visited these schools in 2022, nine years after Mda and Makgoba's visit. The schools were still in bad shape with pit toilets and too few classrooms. We returned in May this year. While some pit toilets have been replaced, classes still exceed 100 students at two schools.

At Putuma Junior Secondary School in Mqanduli, some classrooms hold between 70 and 110 learners. Grade 9 student Siyamthanda Nyangiwe shares a classroom with 107 peers. "We just have to make it work," she says. "We all try hard to help our teachers."

Nearby Sea View Senior Secondary School has 111 grade 10 learners in one classroom. Its 260 grade 12 students share three classrooms—over 80 per room. In Grade 8, there are also too many learners for the available space.

Ntapane Junior Secondary School has improved since our last visit in 2022 due to a new building from a former learner. We could not revisit Nyangilizwe Senior Secondary School this year because the principal declined our request.

Putuma has only eight classrooms for over 750 learners. When it rains, roofs leak and teachers send students home. Some furniture is provided by the education department, but there aren't enough desks for everyone. Three or four students often share one desk.

Grade 4 student Amyoli Tumzela says her classroom is freezing when it's cold. Broken windows let rain inside: "You can see the sky while inside." Leonard Mpetsheni, chair of the School Governing Body (SGB), expresses frustration about government silence on their needs.

"This year we turned away over 700 learners," he says. "Parents must send their children far away." The school receives around R100,000 annually for infrastructure but it's insufficient.

Last year strong winds damaged many roofs; repairs were never made despite reporting them to the department. They had to use their budget for urgent fixes instead of improvements.

Sea View has eight classrooms for its 941 learners; all roofs leak badly. The principal's office is now a storage room due to lack of space.

In one prefab building used by grade 10s, large holes appear in the floor. Recently, Abenathi Ntwakhe fell into one of them: "If it's not fixed soon, someone might get hurt."

Conditions frustrate students: "Today is sunny but so hot we can't concentrate," Abenathi adds. When it rains or gets windy, temperatures drop drastically inside classrooms.

Some classrooms built by the SGB lack windows and have falling ceilings; doors are broken too. Grade 11 student Pamela Thekwini insists: "Government must build us a new school."

Despite these issues, Sea View achieved a matric pass rate of 74% last year—up from 62% in 2022—and received new toilets replacing pit latrines along with scholar transport services since our last visit.

Ntapane now has more facilities thanks to donations from former learner Sisa Ngebulana—a local businessman who funded a new building that will include more classrooms and facilities like a library and kitchen once completed.

However, seven prefab buildings constructed by the department are already falling apart and unusable.

In May, the national Department of Basic Education reported on public school conditions in Eastern Cape’s schools—5,022 total—with varying degrees of disrepair:

- 220 are very poor
- 870 need significant repairs
- 2,020 meet only some minimum standards
- 1,764 are good
- 148 are excellent

Eastern Cape schools compete for resources with many others across South Africa that also fail to meet standards—35% do not meet minimum requirements according to Equal Education spokesperson Ona Matshaya.

About 13,600 schools need more toilets; 6,300 lack sustainable water supplies; 8,250 require additional classrooms as stated by the department during parliamentary discussions.

The department estimates R129 billion is needed for infrastructure improvements but lacks available funds—the annual Education Infrastructure grant is only R14 billion.

Questions sent to Vuyiseka Mboxela from the Eastern Cape Department of Education went unanswered despite multiple follow-ups.