Today the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng conducted an oversight inspection at the Olifantsfontein Primary School in Clayville, Olifantsfontein.
The oversight inspection was done after the DA received numerous complaints from parents over the admission process at the school.
During our visit we found that Olifantsfontein Primary is the only primary school in Clayville and is the oldest school in the area.
With more than 10 new extensions that have been built over the years the school is struggling to accommodate all the learners in the area.
In 2013 the former MEC for Education, Barbara Creecy promised to build two more schools but this never happened even though there was land available for these new schools to be built.
This school is a pressure school and the department had promised four years ago to provide mobile classrooms but this has not been provided.
The school’s resources are now constrained and each grade has five classes. The average number of learners per class is supposed to be 40 learners but this school has more than 60 learners per class.
In order to accommodate all the learners, the school has converted all their storage space into classrooms.
In addition, there are no more specialized classrooms at the school.
The environment at the school is not conducive for teaching and learning, which has a negative impact on the education of these learners.
The DA is calling on the department to provide additional mobile classrooms and teachers as well as Learning and Teaching Support Material, so that learning and teaching can take place in a conducive environment.
The DA will be tabling questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to ascertain when the department will be building the two new schools as was previously promised.