Lack of infrastructure at schools ‘sabotaging’ right to education – Saftu

The trade union federation said on Tuesday that the government continues to bungle the delivery of basic education at the expense of pupils.

Saftu made the remarks following a report detailing the Inadequate and lack of provision of essential services and basic infrastructure by the state in certain villages in the Eastern Cape.  

Spokesperson Trevor Shaku said the lack of proper infrastructure has confirmed their worst fears.

"Our worry has been and is still the impact on learning and teaching by lack of infrastructure, procurement of goods and hiring of teachers. By the example of two schools – Loyiso Secondary School and Cancele Primary School – the investigation by the Public Protector has painted anecdotal proof of the true state of public schools in rural areas across our country.

"Loyiso Secondary School enrols 618 pupils but has 10 classrooms only. This means, on average, there are 61 pupils per classroom. But, because pupils are not spread evenly across grades, this means other classrooms have more pupils than the average. Hence, there are 116 pupils in a grade 9 classroom, 121 in one grade 8 classroom and 164 pupils in one grade 10 classroom.”

Shaku said this situation illustrates the problem of classroom overcrowding in rural areas. 

"Overcrowding is not a conducive environment under which learning and teaching can take place effectively. teachers waste a lot of teaching time on discipline and often cannot cover their curriculum as expected within a stipulated timeframe. This disadvantages all pupils as they miss teaching time.

"The lack of infrastructure in schools is not only due to mismanagement but also due to fiscal budget cuts".

Shaku believes the problem will only be resolved when senior government officials are forced to make use of public schools between quintiles 1 and 3. 

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