More than a decade after warnings about rising learner numbers, classrooms at Walmer High remain overcrowded, with temporary prefab structures in visible decline and little progress on construction of a second school despite provincial budget allocations.

More than a decade ago, when the current matric class at Walmer High School in Nelson Mandela Bay was still in primary school, concerned parents and community members warned that Walmer township's only high school was already buckling under rapidly growing learner numbers.

Since then, not a single brick has been laid for a second high school, even though residents and the provincial education department say there is in fact enough in the budget to build the school, and plans have been developed for the new school.

However, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has yet to submit an environmental impact assessment (EIA), a crucial step that could finally clear the way for construction.

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But despite growing concerns and the municipality facing a self-imposed deadline this week (starting 16 February) to submit the EIA, the municipality remains mum on the status of the assessment.

After years of mounting frustration among learners and parents, that frustration and desperation for answers spilled onto the streets on 5 February 2026, when they marched to demand that authorities fast-track the long-promised project.

To date the school, initially designed for about 1,050 learners, accommodates 2,400 - more than double.

The South African Human Rights Commission...