No new schools planned for Kempton despite overcrowding

DESPITE widespread overcrowding at schools in Kempton Park, no new schools are planned in the foreseeable future.

Refiloe Nt’sekhe, MPL and DA Gauteng constituency head Kempton Park, said the Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, has revealed this in a reply to a DA question.

“The DA has over the past three years been conducting oversight visits to schools in Kempton Park in which all school representatives have sought assistance from the DA in calling on MEC Lesufi to build an additional English medium high school,” Nt’sekhe said in a statement.

“There are about fifteen English medium primary schools in the Kempton Park area feeding into four high schools. Waiting lists have become the norm at these schools for learners entering Grade Eight. At each of the schools they had no less than 100 learners on the waiting list.

“The DA has repeatedly requested the urgent attention of MEC Lesufi to investigate the feasibility and possibility of building an additional school in the community, yet this has fallen on deaf ears. The DA will now once again implore MEC Lesufi to investigate the possibility of building an additional school in Kempton Park,” she added.

“The DA believes all learners are entitled to a reasonable learner-to-teacher ratio. According to the Department of Basic Education, the national minimum uniform norms and standards for school infrastructure prescribe the learner-to-teacher ratio as 1:35 for secondary schools and 1:40 for primary schools. Classrooms in most Kempton Park schools exceed the learner-to-teacher ratio by far.”