Gauteng Education dismisses overcrowding claims
The Gauteng Education Department said several interventions have been implemented to tackle overcrowding at schools in the province.
“These measures were implemented to meet the growing demand for Gauteng public education,” spokesperson Steve Mabona said on Wednesday.
He said the department assisted schools to accommodate more learners by providing mobile classroom units, building satellite schools, and transferring funds to schools for self-build classroom projects.
“292 primary schools and 277 secondary schools in the province were regarded as high-pressure schools. An example of such schools would be Laerskool Akasia, which had the capacity to place only 240 Grade 1 learners but received 1 475 Grade 1 applications.”
“An example for secondary schools would be Hoërskool Langehoven, which had the capacity to place 300 Grade 8 learners but received 3 081 Grade 8 applications,” he said.
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Mabona said despite interventions to fight overcrowding, it was not possible to place all applicants at their preferred schools due to capacity constraints.
“As a result, applicants who could not be accommodated in oversubscribed schools were placed at the next closest schools with available space”.
Mabona added that the department has been in communication with the public through media statements on challenges and interventions to mitigate capacity at schools.
“Therefore, claims of newly discovered overcrowding are misleading, as the department announced these issues before, along with plans to alleviate pressure on affected schools,” he said.
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