A record 208 pupils in one classroom

MANZINI – As free education is being rolled out in the lower grades, a school has found itself being forced to admit 208 children into one Grade I class.

This is the story of overcrowding at the Manzini Central Primary school.
This reporter yesterday visited the school and found the pupils overcrowded and playing inside the classroom owing to the non availability of a teacher. The pupils at this school are congested in all the grades except for Grade VII where each class has approximately 45 pupils.

The problem at the school is not just in Grade I as in Grade III they have 166 pupils in one class with limited furniture such that some of the children are made to share desks as well as sit on the floor.
In Grade IV the school has 72 pupils in each class.  Ordinarily one class must have a maximum carrying capacity of 45 pupils.

At best the school can be said to be every teacher’s nightmare and at worse could be a health hazard for both the pupils and the teachers because the classes are overcrowded.
There is no furniture in the classrooms as some pupils are forced to sit on the floor and there is only one toilet that is used by the over 1000 pupils enrolled at the school.

The toilets best epitomise the overcrowding at the school. The school’s principal, Amos Sihlongonyane, said they were having it tough in the school because there was no furniture nor adequate classrooms to accommodate the pupils. He said they were in need of classrooms, furniture as well as teachers.

He said they needed one more class for Grade II and three classrooms for Grade I. “The ministry has promised to give us a mobile classroom and we believe when it comes we won’t have the congestion,” Sihlongonyane said.
Sihlongonyane clarified that they had started lessons at the schools but pointed out that it was difficult because of the shortage of teachers, furniture as well as classrooms.