The Democratic Alliance (DA) conducted an oversight visit to Zonkhisizwe Secondary School, which is a public school that serves the very poorest of communities, revealing overcrowding, infrastructure decay and security failures.
This oversight was intended to monitor the state of the school and make sure that government is serving the interests of the youth.
The school is being run into the ground by the misgovernance of the ANC-led Gauteng Department of Education who are failing dismally to manage the upkeep of the school and to ensure that learners receive proper education.
Upon inspection, it was revealed that this school is heavily over capacitated with a limit of 1200 pupils but the school is currently packed with 1403 learners who are currently enrolled.
This has resulted in a crowded school with severe resource constraints as there is a grave shortage of 600 desks, 600 chairs and classrooms.
The present facilities are also seriously dilapidated. Prefab classrooms are only supposed to be used for five years, yet this school has been using these for 15 years and specialised classrooms are being used as normal classrooms.
The school has also been a target of theft and vandalism as their generator and security cameras were stolen. Moreover, the palisade walling fencing, desks, chairs and toilets are also damaged. This is despite the school supposedly having security.
This mismanagement and underfunding by the Gauteng Department of Education is negatively impacting the outcome of learner results.
The school is also facing dire performance challenges as the school pass rate is at a staggeringly low 77.7% leaving 22.3% of learners behind.
The department progressed 27 learners and 51 learners failed with a key obstacle for learners being mathematics. This is concerning as most of the learners were forcibly progressed, without being necessarily qualified, further obscuring the actual validated pass rate. This can be partially attributed to most of the learners coming from child headed households or being undocumented.
The DA recommends the promotion and implementation of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in order to improve the prospects of learners and strengthen the deficit of this skills development gap in South Africa.
We will also pose questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to demand answers as to why these learners are being stripped of their chance for merited education.
The DA will continue to fight for quality education for all learners so that their future is not determined by unfair circumstances but rather by opportunity and equality.