R535 000 Classrooms Donation The Answer To Overcrowding Crisis At Lindelani-based Primary School
For Immediate Release:
01 June 2022
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Classes of up to 54 learners at a significantly under-resourced Lindelani, KwaMashu, primary school are a thing of the past, thanks to the donation of three new mobile classrooms, collectively valued at R535 000.
The South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT) stepped in to assist Sicelulwazi Primary School upon hearing about the educational institution’s excessive class sizes and the fact that administrators are also forced to share classroom space, as the school lacks admin facilities.
Speaking at an event to mark the official hand-over of the new classrooms, SAMCT representative, Mr Gaf Osman, said: “Every child has the right to a good education, but very often in our country’s schools there are simply not enough classrooms for all the learners. Schools are expensive to build and the Government does not have the money to do this, which means that class sizes are becoming ever bigger.”
He added that he was aware that teachers at Sicelulwazi Primary School were forced to teach classes numbering between 49 and 54 learners. “This is simply too many for teachers to give learners the individual attention they deserve,” he said. The school faces serious financial constraints and yet learner enrolments continue to grow.
Overcrowded classes in South African schools – especially those in rural and historically disadvantaged peri-urban areas – are not uncommon, with schools being forced to accommodate more learners than they were designed for, resulting in youngsters not enjoying the individual attention they require. “Overcrowding is far from ideal because the ability of a teacher to control a class and to teach effectively becomes severely compromised. This is a situation which has long prevailed and is not one for which short-term resolution is possible. “Unfortunately, it falls to schools to do the best they can with overcrowded classes and to appeal to charitable organisations to assist in any way possible to enable them to make teaching more manageable,” Mr Osman said.
For its part, the SAMCT, created in 2008, was established to provide funding, services and other resources for the improvement of the lives of the vulnerable, deprived and disadvantaged. It has successfully delivered solutions throughout the country, irrespective of race or religion and works to support needy organisations in the fields of health, social development, poverty alleviation and education.
Accordingly, the organisation was quick to lend assistance to Sicelulwazi Primary School.Mr Osman said of the SAMCT’s role in supplying the school with three more classrooms: “When we heard that this was an under-funded school and was battling with radically overcrowded classes, we were happy to help. We provided R535 000 to buy the additional classrooms in an effort to significantly reduce the overcrowding crisis here.”
He added: “I hope the new facilities will make teachers and learners more comfortable and not as squashed together as in the past, while also making the learning experience a little bit easier for all. We trust that our classrooms donation will change education here for the better.”
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For more information about SAMCT or its Sicelulwazi Primary School classrooms donation, please
contact:
Rasheeda Motala
Social Responsibility Officer
Tel: 084 506 2280
Email: samct@samct.co.za