Shortage of 250 000 places for Grade Rs, with as many as 33 pupils per teacher

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has revealed that South Africa needs approximately 250 000 additional Grade R places to accommodate all eligible children in Grade R school programmes.

Gwarube also revealed that some provinces are currently managing classrooms of more than 30 students per teacher.

“The simplest way to estimate the additional capacity needed in terms of Grade R places at schools would be to say that the size of a typical cohort of Grade 1 learners, where there is essentially universal participation, is about 1 050 000 enrolments. The typical size of a Grade R cohort in the last few years is about 800 000 enrolments,” Gwarube said in response to a parliamentary question from ActionSA’s Lerato Mikateko Ngobeni.

Grade R pupil-to-teacher ratio

The strain on the system is particularly evident in provinces like Mpumalanga, where teachers manage classes of 33 students, and Limpopo, with 32 students per teacher.

The Eastern Cape and North West have 30 students per teacher, while Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) respectively have 27 and 26 pupils per teacher.

Northern Cape has a pupil-to-teacher ratio of 25 to one and Gauteng has a similar ratio of 26 pupils to one teacher.

This is in contrast to the Free State, which maintains a more manageable ratio of 23 students per teacher, while the national average sits at 28 students per teacher.

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Current enrollment numbers

KZN currently leads with the highest enrollment of 167 000 Grade R pupils. This is followed by Limpopo with 117 265 and Gauteng with 113 021.

Eastern Cape has 107 137 pupils, followed by Western Cape with 69 579 pupils.

Mpumalanga has 66, 417 enrolled pupils, while North West has 53 035 pupils and Free State has 37 250.

The Northern Cape has the lowest enrollment with 19 253.

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Age distribution issues

Adding to the complexity is the spread of age cohorts across grades.

Learner Unit Record Information and Tracking System (Lurits) data from 2023 shows that while 469 424 five-year-olds were in Grade R at the start of 2023, another 346 665 five-year-olds were already in Grade 1, with an additional 310 428 four-year-olds in Grade R.

According to Stats SA’s 2024 midyear population estimates, there are 1 119 059 five-year-olds in South Africa, highlighting the significant gap between the available Grade R places and the potential demand.

The national system currently accommodates 749 957 Grade R pupils with 26 834 teachers across all provinces.

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