Agricultural school in Patensie still plagued by overcrowding

12 May 2022 | Atenkosi Plaatjie

Learners have taken to the streets on Thursday to voice their concerns

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Parents and learners at Patensie Agricultural High School have taken to the streets in protest against overcrowding.

Learners protested on Thursday morning as their school has been shut for weeks at a time over the same issue.

School Governing Body member, Basil Jafta, says the Department has failed to deliver on its promise to provide additional mobile classrooms and two teachers to the school.

Jafta also told Algoa FM News previously that the overcrowding has resulted in an increase in the failure rate at the school.

He says the Department has not attended any meeting with the parents since April when an agreement was reached.

Officials from the Department are expected to visit the school on Monday.

In April, the Eastern Cape Department of Education said a committee was elected to work on acquiring suitable land to extend the school.

Spokesperson, Mali Mtima, said mobile classrooms were identified as a temporary solution.

"Additional teachers, shortage of classrooms and a serious underperforming management have been identified as a challenge, amongst other issues," he said.

Mtima said the school is habitually underperforming and an intervention team was established, to address the problems.

According to the SGB's Jafta, learners in Grade 8, 9 and 10 only go to school twice a week due to the lack of space.