Eastern Cape schools battle low learner numbers and teacher shortages

• Some schools in Tsomo town in the Eastern Cape are battling with low learner numbers and teacher shortages.
• We visited three different schools last week. In one primary school there were only two teachers. They taught four grades in one classroom.
• The provincial education department says these schools might be closed due to low numbers. But parents say they can’t afford to pay for transport to schools outside of their communities.

The Eastern Cape Department of Education is considering closing a couple of rural schools where parents have been complaining of teacher shortages. But parents at these schools say they can’t afford to pay for transport to schools outside of their community. They instead want the department to hire more teachers.

At Maduma Primary School in Tsomo, there are 56 learners with only two teachers. Each teacher has to teach at least four grades each.

The foundation phase learners are taught in one class while the intermediate phase, grades 4 to 7 have also been combined in one classroom. According to parents, most of the former teachers had retired in 2022, and their posts were never filled.

When GroundUp visited the school on Friday, there was only one teacher at the school. We were told that the foundation phase teacher was sick and had gone to the doctor. This was not the first time our reporter was at the school and only one teacher was there to cater for all of the learners.

Grade 6 learner, Alwaba Manya, 11, told GroundUp that school was better last year when they had more teachers. “I’m sure this also frustrates our teachers even though they are not telling us. In our class, we have four grades. One grade would be told to focus on reading and the other grades would have to go over work, while the teacher is busy with a different grade.

“Who can concentrate on reading while there’s a teacher asking questions to other learners in the same class? We are really suffering,” said Manya.

Grade 7 learner, Silungile Golotile, 15, said, “There are slow learners in some of the grades, but they don’t get the attention they need because the workload is too much on our teachers. I also suffer a lot because I can’t study when others are talking. The situation becomes chaotic.”

Parent Mongikazi Jingisa said they have asked the provincial education department to hire more teachers. “We really need teachers, even if it’s assistant teachers. If we had money we would have hired our own teachers, but most parents here rely on social grants.”

Jingisa said that when both teachers are absent or have to attend a meeting, then the whole school has to close. “We have grade 7 learners going to high school next year, but they are already struggling with subjects. We don’t want them to miss out,” said Jingisa.

Maduma Primary School only has two teachers, and four different grades have to share one classroom.

At another school in Mjulwa village, Tsomo, parents of learners at Zidlekhaya Primary have also complained of staff shortages at the school. The school has four teachers for grades R to 7.

School Governing Body member Nondiliseko Sithole said the teacher shortage started in 2022 when four teachers were transferred to another primary school in a village nearby. She said the school was old and dilapidated, with fewer than 50 learners. She said the department told them that the school should be closed due to the low learner numbers.

East Bank Primary, also in Tsomo’s East Bank village, is another small school without enough teachers. According to Eastern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima, the school has 51 learners and two teachers, one of whom also serves as the principal.

Parent Nonkuselo Qhina said parents raised money to hire two SGB teachers but “they come and go” because parents are struggling to pay them. “We decided that each house must pay R100 for each teacher. Now we have two teachers. The money is not much, I think one teacher gets around R2,400 a month. In some months they get less depending on how many parents have paid,” said Qhina.

She said East Bank is the only primary school in the area. The nearest school is in Tshetshengwane village about 5km away, but most parents can’t afford to pay for scholar transport.

Mtima said the department is in talks over the possibility of closing Maduma Primary and East Bank Primary. He did not respond to our questions about Zidlekhaya primary.

Read More at GroundUp