387 schools in KZN are overcrowded: DA
The DA in KwaZulu-Natal claims it has identified 387 overcrowded schools across the province.
The party's spokesperson on Education in KZN, Mbali Ntuli has been speaking to Newswatch following a site visit to two schools in the uMsunduzi District.
She was accompanied by DA uMsunduzi mayoral candidate Mergan Chetty.
Ntuli says the pupil-to-teacher ratio in some schools is 80:1.
''Given the results that we are finding year on year for matric tested you can see that some of these problems do begin at primary school level.
''If we can really curb the problem of having too many students that's one less problem we would have to worry about in terms of actually producing the results that the province can be proud and that children can be able to actually make a contribution to the economy of this province,'' she said.
The provincial education department says the problem is not as widespread as the DA makes it out to be.
"It is among the things that have been dealt with from the beginning of the year. We have advised principals, including school governing bodies, to actually inform us whenever they see anything that looks like overcrowding in any classroom,'' says Sicelo Kuzwayo, Spokesperson for Education MEC Peggy Nkonyeni.
(File photo: Gallo Images)