An extra two classes will be built at Wordsworth High School following the exceeded capacity of learners in Grade Eight.
This response was received from the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), following a request for comment by the City Times to a letter received by a concerned resident.
The letter, dated January 28, stated:
What’s happening in Benoni? I refer to Wordsworth High School.
There are in excess of 40 Grade Eight learners in a class and not enough desks for them to sit at! How is it even possible to control a class that big?
How must learners study or keep up with the others when they are on the floor?
The sports fields have not been mowed, nor have the lines been painted and they have inter-house soon.
When my children were there the fields were mowed, the fields chalked and ready for athletics, way before school started.
I really think someone needs to jack up this once wonderful school and put pride back into it.
GDE response:
Grades Eight and 10 admissions specifically for 2019 is a pressure point at Wordsworth High School because more learners were admitted than what was anticipated for 2019.
Wordsworth High School is an excellent academically achieving school; therefore, many parents would like their children to attend the school.
“The GDE has been in the process of building two additional classrooms which have not yet been handed over or completed,” said GDE spokesperson Steve Mabona.
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“We were hoping that these would be operational for 2019 – the chairs for the two new classrooms have arrived; we are awaiting completion of these two classes and the desks have to arrive before we can allocate learners to them.
“We are also awaiting a growth post of another educator from the GDE to be able to take the excess of learners over.”
Mabona said the policy is that each classroom should have 38 learners for high and 40 for primary schools.
“The fields have been maintained, with sporadic disruptions due to the amount of rain the province has been experiencing,” he said.
“We are, however, proud to inform you that our fields were mowed and have been marked as we are preparing for our Athletics Day to be held on the school ground on February 1.”
He also mentioned that officials from the department, both provincial and district, conducted “school readiness” during the last term of 2018 and first term of 2019 and observations on both occasions were of neatly kept grounds.
“Wordsworth High School, like all high performing schools in the province, received high volumes of applications across the grades,” he explained.
“As a department, we view this phenomenon as positive as it speaks to South African parents heading the call to take age-appropriate children to school.
“We further commend the principal for continuing to give access to learning to our youth, thus ensuring that Chapter 2 Section 29(1)(2) of the Constitution finds expression in our learning institutions.”
Mabona added that all helping hands can make the school a success.
“In the words of a great statesman: ‘it’s in our hands’,” he said.
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