Cape Town In a scramble to resolve classroom availability in Cape Town, 96 Grade 3 learners have been crammed into a school’s media centre, as circuit managers work to resolve the crisis in the face of 2 407 teachers being cut.
Experts have warned the overcrowding could impact the literacy training of children when they reach the age of 10, while watchdogs said a survey revealed it negativity affected the learners’ motivation to learn.
Western Cape Education Department (WCED) spokesperson, Kerry Mauchline, confirmed the 96 learners were accommodated in a classroom format inside the media centre at Sunray Primary School in Delft as a non-permanent measure, while stationery was to be delivered this week.
“The district has confirmed that the group of learners are currently being accommodated in the media centre temporarily due to a timetabling issue,” she explained when asked about the classroom size.
“The Circuit Manager has been at the school (yesterday) to resolve this.
“The school ordered stationery timeously and is awaiting delivery from the supplier.”
A whistleblower, who asked for his name to be withheld, told the Cape Argus the children had been kept in the media centre since the start of the school year and that another teacher was being sought by the district.
Mauchline said the latest teacher to learner ratio showed every one educator to 36.7 learners.
“Actual class size data will be available after the SNAP survey is processed, and growth teaching posts have been allocated,” she said.
The Western Cape has been the hardest hit by the teachers’ cut for the 2025 academic year.
In the Metro North District, including Delft, 76 teachers have been impacted.
In Mitchell’s Plain, the figure stands at 176 educators, followed by Khayelitsha with 142.
The WCED further revealed they had 1 468 public schools in the province with 1 206 070 learners enrolled, including 20 213 at seven Special Needs schools with 34 728 teachers.
The department said they hoped to complete nine new schools and 265 additional classrooms in the year 2025.
Professor Michael Le Cordeur, Vice-Dean for Education And Learning at Stellenbosch University, said overcrowding of classrooms, even during a temporary situation, would impact the learner.
“It is totally unacceptable to have 60 learners in one class.
“No effective teaching or learning can take place not to even speak about maintaining discipline.
“To put 96 pupils in one class is outrageous. It completely defies everything we are teaching about education and makes a mockery of the new Bela Act.
“The MEC for education needs to give answers given his adamant attitude to lay off more than 2 000 teachers whilst some teachers have been thrown under the bus with 96 learners in a class.”
Professor Kobus Maree, of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Pretoria, said teaching in such environments were nearly impossible and made it difficult for the learner to understand their work.
“Teachers in overcrowded classrooms struggle to project their voices, communicate effectively with individual learners, and maintain discipline, not just in small groups but across an entire class.
“Learners, on the other hand, contend with an equally daunting reality: many walk long distances to school, only to return home late in the afternoon.
“Make no mistake: these learners are painfully aware of their disadvantaged position.
“They know that society, for the most part, has turned a blind eye to their struggles.”
Maree suggested solutions such as the hiring of more teachers, setting the maximum class size to 40 learners and building additional classrooms to foster partnerships between private businesses and government to fund and support these initiatives.
Kimberley Khumalo, Researcher for Equal Education, said: “The impact of overcrowding has been shown in the learning crisis in the country, where one percent of children cannot read with understanding in any language by the age of ten.”