20.04.2025
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Gauteng government to erect mobile classrooms in Orchards, Pretoria

4 mins



  • Mobile classrooms seen at a school.

2 minutes

The Gauteng education department says work has started to erect mobile classrooms on a vacant piece of land, as an interim measure to alleviate overcrowding in schools in Orchards, north of Pretoria.

The mobile classrooms, which will include ablution facilities, are expected to be operational by June this year.

However, this has elicited mixed views with some parents supporting the decision while others are opposing it.

“This is only a mechanism for us to alleviate the pressure. We did not say this is a permanent solution. This is an interim solution, because no child must be at home. Those that are criticizing us, they need to look at the bigger picture to say what is it that we must do as a department. Must we say children must go and be at home? You criticize and you must also give us a solution. We are highly pressured in this area,” says Gauteng education spokesperson, Steve Mabona.

VIDEO | Gauteng Education Spokesperson Steve Mabona  says the aim of erecting mobile classrooms is to ensure that children go to school closer to their homes.

Meanwhile, some of the parents who have been going to district offices to seek school placements for their children have expressed disappointment after being told to return on Monday.

Placements after online applications

At the Morningside office in Johannesburg parents and guardians have told SABC News that some of the schools at which their children have been placed are far from their homes.

The children would need to take three taxis to get to the allocated schools, which the parents say is unaffordable.

“The school that they are sending my child to, I have to taken three Avanzas from Kaalfontein to Clayville to Mayibuye. How is my own child, a girl child that is going to be able to go from home to school every day like that? I don’t have that kind of money as well. And if it was at Kaalfontein or anywhere else, it is fine. I would rather get a transport, which I don’t have a problem getting, transport for a school that is closer,” says one of the parents, Nkululeko Nkuna.


VIDEO | Gauteng parents queueing at district offices

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