- Boikagong learners excel despite overcrowding, with 108 in one class and four sharing each desk.
- SAHRC finds pit latrines, broken hostels, and the exclusion of undocumented learners across multiple provinces.
- Commission calls for urgent national reform to restore dignity and uphold the right to basic education.
Boikagong Secondary School in North West enrolled over 2 000 learners in a facility designed for 1 700. One classroom held 108 learners, with four children sharing a desk.
Yet, according to the South African Human Rights Commission’s 2025 School Readiness Monitoring Report, “despite conditions, the school achieved a 96.5 percent matric pass rate with 44 distinctions.” The Commission cites this as a powerful example of learner resilience under extreme pressure.
The report, compiled after visits to more than 150 public schools across all nine provinces, documents widespread violations of learners’ rights to dignity, safety, and inclusion. It finds that overcrowding, infrastructure collapse, and administrative exclusion remain entrenched features of South Africa’s basic education system, especially in rural and under-resourced communities.
Infrastructure collapse and sanitation failures
Across provinces, schools continue to rely on pit latrines, asbestos classrooms, and temporary structures. “Some schools still rely on pit latrines, and many schools lack clean water and functioning ablution facilities,” the report states.
In Gauteng’s Mamelodi township, schools like Vukani Mawethu and Ditshaba Primary operate with mobile classrooms and waterlogged entrances. In the Western Cape, Prins Albert Primary still uses asbestos structures. In the Eastern Cape, Debe Primary has no electricity and relies on unsafe sanitation.
Learners with disabilities left behind
In Limpopo, Helen Franz Special School has one teacher responsible for 59 learners with disabilities. “Learners are forced to bathe using plastic tubs due to broken shower taps and lack of rails.” At Setotolwane LSEN Secondary School, boarding facilities lack clean water and are described as “run-down and not disability-friendly.”
The Commission found that many schools were not equipped to accommodate learners with disabilities. Bathrooms were inaccessible, ramps were broken, and support staff were absent.
Scholar transport and nutrition failures
In the North West, expired vehicle licenses, broken buses, and missing drivers left learners stranded. “Learners frequently missed school due to unreliable or incomplete transport arrangements.” In Buffalo City Metro, Eastern Cape, Grade 8 learners went without transport for the entire first week of school.
The National School Nutrition Programme was mostly functional, but implementation was uneven. At Tafelsig High in Cape Town, the school fed 260 learners despite being funded for only 120. In Limpopo, Good Hope Primary stored food in a poorly ventilated room. “Kitchen infrastructure lacking at some schools,” the report notes, “with food safety compromised by leaking facilities.”
Undocumented learners are excluded from the system
Undocumented learners were routinely excluded from admissions systems. “The Commission observed a persistent exclusion of undocumented learners, despite efforts by some school principals to accommodate them.” Schools like Jolobe SPS and Langeni SPS admitted undocumented learners but received no departmental support.
Without proper inclusion in funding formulas and planning systems, schools are left to carry the burden alone. The report warns that this exclusion is unconstitutional and unsustainable.
Boarding schools operating without staff or budget
Boarding schools were a new focus in 2025, and the findings were grim. At St Matthews High in the Eastern Cape, broken showers, electrical failures, and absent staff left hostels uninhabitable. “No matron, hostel master, or boarding staff.” At Thubalethu High, a no-fee school, the hostel operated without any dedicated budget or adult supervision.
Most boarding schools lacked privacy, safety, and basic services. Some were managed informally, without oversight or funding.
SAHRC calls for urgent national reform
The Commission’s national analysis identifies five major systemic failures. These are scholar transport, hostel conditions, learning material shortages, poor sanitation, and infrastructure decay. These failures are not isolated. They are structural, recurring, and deeply entrenched.
In response, the SAHRC calls for urgent national reforms. These include an infrastructure audit and targeted investment in high-risk schools, the development of an Annual School Service Improvement Plan, interdepartmental collaboration to support undocumented learners, and immediate upgrades to sanitation, scholar transport, and staffing.
“The SAHRC remains steadfast in its mandate to monitor, advocate, and act where learners’ rights are compromised,” the report concludes. “Education is both a right in itself and an enabler of human dignity and social justice.”
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