Money is there but ‘political will is lacking’: Not enough schools being built in South Africa

The pace at which new schools are being built is lagging behind the swelling numbers of children needing to be accommodated.

The sight of stranded pupils at the start of the 2025 school year highlighted the need to increase capacity before the influx becomes unmanageable.

The government has built a limited number of new schools in recent years, while private developers continue to provide options for families with more resources.

Billions allocated for school infrastructure

In Gauteng, just 28 new schools have been built since 2014, while 20 new schools are due to be built by 2029.

Figures from 2023 state that just over 13.4 million pupils attended roughly 22 500 public and 2 300 independent schools.

ALSO READ: ‘Must I send my child to an open field for school?’: Kids sit at home as assigned school isn’t built

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) confirmed to The Citizen that the budget for new schools is allocated by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and typically implemented by DPWI on a provincial basis.

The DBE did not respond to questions about the number of new schools in the pipeline, despite billions allocated in last year’s medium-term budget.

Infrastructure delivery, funded through the Education Infrastructure Grant, was allocated R13.7 billion in July 2024, while the School Infrastructure Backlog Grant (SIBG) received R1.6 billion.

The SIBG is to receive R5.3 billion over the next three years and is earmarked for repairs to unsafe schools, additional classrooms and sanitation projects.

Additionally, the Gauteng Department of Education announced last week that just over R200 million had been made available to install mobile classrooms at satellite schools for new pupils in 2025.

Private innovation

While government development is bogged down by multi-department collaboration and annual budget adjustments, a privatised model allows for targeted solutions.

SPARK Schools is a private brand that uses the DBE’s Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement curriculum, incorporating classroom and online instruction.

SPARK Schools launched in Randburg in January 2013 and now has 16 000 pupils at 26 primary and high schools in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

“Decisions on opening new schools are based on thorough market research, demand analysis, and alignment with our mission to make high-quality education accessible to more families,” Earl Sampson, Managing Director of SPARK Schools South Africa, explained to The Citizen.

ALSO READ: How many of this year’s grade 1s will pass matric? Here’s what needs to be addressed

Mother-tongue instruction, fueled by debate over the Basic Educations Laws Amendment Act (Bela), remains a bone of contention, an issue SPARK addressed at their conception.

English is the primary language of instruction at SPARK, with a first additional language (FAL) mandatory from grade R based on the demographics of the region the school is located in.

“In our Gauteng schools, the FAL is isiZulu and in the Western Cape, it is isiXhosa,” said Sampson.

In 2025, SPARK will be piloting a second additional language programme that allows for learning Setswana, Sesotho, or Afrikaans instruction depending on the school’s location.

‘Political will’ lacking

AfriForum shed light on why not enough schools had been built, especially in provinces that drive the nation’s economy.

“In Gauteng, the annual reports annually show budgets for infrastructure development that were not spent at all,” CEO Kallie Kriel told The Citizen.

Using cases that AfriForum has involved him, he noted how a school promised from almost 20 years in KwaZulu-Natal had still not materialised, while pupils in Limpopo face gross overcrowding.

ALSO READ: ‘It’s not easy’: Are the teachers behind matric results top achievers appreciated enough?

He lamented that children from the Nkungumathe community, in Nkandla, were still walking up to 20km to get to schools, while a failed partnership in Sango, Limpopo, left more than 100 children per classroom.

“In this [Limpopo] case, the infrastructure is there, but the political will to use it is lacking due to personal interests,” Kriel said.

AfriForum itself has entered the private tertiary space with its development of SolTech, and it aims to do the same in the basic education sphere with the launch of its Afrikaans school template, Gimnasium.

“SOS, the organisation that deals with education is already developing a school to serve as a model for more private Afrikaans education,” confirmed Kriel.

Gauteng’s population expanding

Economic hubs have seen the greatest influx of families, with education activist Hendrick Makaneta highlighting the areas in most need.

“There is no doubt that townships in Gauteng are expanding quickly and such increases in population is putting additional pressure on existing schools,” Makaneta told The Citizen.

“The result is that we may see poor performance of some of our learners [due to overcrowding]. It is in the best interest of society to increase schools.

“If government can increase schools, the move will benefit communities as many people rely on public schools to educate their children,” Makaneta said.

NOW READ: Matric class of 2024: Universities receive record number of applications