Staff room has also been converted into a classroom

Mahube Valley Primary School in Mamelodi East, Pretoria, was established in 2012 and has been battling with overcrowding since 2014. The school currently has 1,100 learners, with at least 600 sharing one toilet block. There are 14 prefab classrooms without electricity.

A teacher at the school told GroundUp that most of the school's classrooms can only accommodate up to 40 learners but most of the classes, especially grades 5 to 7, are beyond capacity with almost 60 learners per classroom.

The staff room is currently being used to house grade 4 learners. In free periods teachers are forced to sit in their cars or in a container used as a library.

The teacher said the school had been asking the Gauteng Department of Education department for more classrooms but to no avail. Seven more classrooms were needed.

Patrick Makhanya, School Governing Body chairperson, confirmed that the school had submitted numerous requests for classrooms since 2019.

Gauteng Department of Education spokesperson Steve Mabona said additional classrooms had been ordered and would be delivered to the school "in due course".