Parents at four overcrowded Eastern Cape schools are litigating against provincial education MEC Mandla Makupula in a bid to force him to provide additional classrooms at each school.
The court application also seeks to address overcrowding in schools generally throughout the Mthatha and Amathole school districts.
It wants the Mthatha High Court to order Makupula to provide plans for decreasing overcrowding at schools that have not been identified in the state’s existing infrastructure plans in the two districts.
The four schools are Attwell Madala Senior Secondary in Mthatha, Enduku Junior Secondary in Ngcobo, Dudumayo Senior Secondary in Mqanduli, and Mnceba Senior Secondary in Ntabankulu.
Cameron McConnachie, an attorney with the Legal Resources Centre, which is acting for the parents at the schools, said conditions at the schools were so congested the children could not even write properly.
“Teachers struggle to manage packed classrooms and learners struggle to hear them teach. Teachers cannot move around the classroom and learners have to mark their own work. Teachers cannot keep track of each student and learners skip school for long periods without being noticed.”
According to court papers, the overcrowding at Mnceba SS – which has 12 classes with more than 80 pupils per class and two classes with more than 100 – had forced teachers to hold classes outside under trees. Enduku JS has six classrooms with more than 70 pupils each and Attwell Madala SS has six classes with more than 80. Almost all classrooms at Dudumayo SS have more than 80 pupils and four have over 100.
One of the parents, Mr Ndoyisile Fudumele, whose two children attend Attwell Madala SS, said conditions at the school were so terrible it rendered learning almost impossible.
To make matters worse some of the classrooms were dilapidated, forcing teachers to teach outdoors or combine classes in one classroom if the weather was bad.
“There are more than 90 children in some classes. Sometimes, due to lack of space, the teachers combine classes. Can you imagine trying to teach a class of 180 or more children?”
Many classrooms had no doors, windows or ceilings, he said.
“These kids are not coping. If it is windy or raining or cold and the class is congested, how are they meant to learn?”
The LRC will argue that overcrowded classrooms undermine children’s constitutional right to a basic education.
Regulations relating to the minimum uniform norms and standards for public school infrastructure specify that “acceptable” classrooms should contain no more than 40 learners.
These norms, published in 2013, were meant to be phased in over seven years and required the MEC to provide plans for implementation.
“However, available plans do not include provision for the (four) schools, where overcrowding has reached crisis levels,” said McConnachie.
He said it was hoped that the court application would lead to an order resulting in classrooms being built at the four schools as well as all overcrowded schools in the Mthatha and Amathole districts being included in the MEC’s plans to implement the Infrastructure Norms.
The matter has not yet been set down for argument. As of yesterday, he said that the MEC had not indicated any intention to oppose the matter...