A lack of public schools is putting pressure on parents, learners and teachers
The issues surrounding a shortage of space for grade ones in the city’s public schools worsen every year, Lowvelder reports.
This puts parents in a situation where they are forced to consider private or independent schools they cannot afford or whose quality they are not assured of.
As a compromise, English children are sometimes placed in an Afrikaans class and vice versa, just to accommodate them in mainstream government schools.
READ MORE: Teacher development, transformation in education key for SA – Lesufi
Spokesman for the Mpumalanga Department of Education, Jasper Zwane said in a statement earlier this month that they were targeting a teacher-learner ratio of 1:30 in 2018.
DA councillor in the City of Mbombela, Mpumalanga, and a former town planner by profession, Kleinste Janse van Rensburg explained that there used to be enough schools to serve residents.
“Over time the housing density increased and more and more people living in surrounding areas send their children to schools in town. Now the kids who can walk to the school in their area, can’t find space.”
She argues that it is the municipality’s responsibility to ensure that all facilities are planned and that land is available for all these, including clinics and schools.
Tersia Marshall, ward councillor for ward 15 in Mbombela, confirmed that in January 2017 there were waiting lists at all the primary schools in her area. Eventually all of them were placed. At least one pupil she knew of had to be placed in an Afrikaans class, “which was definitely to her detriment”.
However, some parents are not willing to wait for their kids to be placed, as they miss some school days and prefer to seek other solutions.
Marshall added that currently mostly English-speaking children are affected – but also Afrikaans ones.
The four public primary schools currently have waiting lists ranging from 80 to 180 for grade one for 2018.
“You can’t just build another classroom,” Marshall explained. “That will take away the space of, for instance, sports fields.”
It will also have a ripple effect on grade two classes and on, as the increased number of grade ones will need to advance to higher grades the following year, leading to more and more pupils in a class.
Marshall said some have a teacher-learner ratio of 1:45.
“Some of the schools deal with this by, for instance, appointing student teachers to assist the head teacher in a class,” she explained, “which is clearly unsustainable.”
Janse van Rensburg showed Lowvelder minutes from a ward committee meeting dating back to 2004, when the issue was already a problem. At the time it was concluded that there was a need for both an English primary and high school in the Mbombela area and council was approached to make land available.
Nothing has come of it – the last school was built more than 30 years ago.
“We have to make a plan to get the department to build schools,” Van Rensburg said.
Marshall agreed, “We have to put more pressure on the department.”
Schools are expected to be a priority when the Integrated Development Plan is discussed in council on January 29.
Schools reopen on January 17.
Neither the City of Mbombela Local Municipality nor the provincial Department of Education responded to the Lowvelder’s request for comment.
https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/teacher-development-transformation-education-key-sa-lesufi/
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