Lawley Secondary School learners suffer due to the continuous rotational learning system and overcrowded classrooms

The learners at Lawley Secondary School continue to be taught in overcrowded mobile classrooms and still on a rotational learning system, which is not a conducive environment for learners to access quality education.

Lawley Secondary School has a total number of 2200 learners and about 60 learners per classroom.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) conducted an oversight inspection at the school, and we were disappointed to discover that learners are still attending on a rotational basis, losing much of their learning time.

This is unacceptable as the rotational learning system was ended, and all learners must be attending school on a full-time basis.

The school does not have running water and no proper ablution facilities. The chemical toilets are only serviced once every two weeks instead of being serviced every two to four days, which poses a health risk for both learners and teachers.

The school also has electricity challenges, and the furniture is broken.

See pictures here, here, here and here.

The DA demands answers from the Gauteng Department of Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, regarding why this school is still on a rotational learning system. We demand to know when will his department deliver additional mobile classrooms to ease overcrowding in classrooms and to ensure that there are enough classrooms so that rotational learning can end as a matter of urgency.

We also demand that this school must be provided with additional much-needed resources to ensure that learning and teaching take place in a conducive environment.

The DA proposes that MEC Lesufi must conduct a forensic audit into the state of our mobile schools across the province. This will assist the department in prioritising the building of brick-and-mortar schools to ensure that schooling is not compromised due to a lack of adequate infrastructure.

We will not allow our children to suffer due to the department’s incompetency in failing to provide resources to the schools.