Topical Teaching

221 students squeezed into 1 standard classroom.

With just 1 teacher preciding.

Which country do you think this classroom is in?

Somewhere in Africa? Nope

Bangladesh? Try again.

Give up?

It’s in London, England:

Given the high temperatures and humidity in the city over the last few weeks, parents with children at Sinempulelelo Primary School are very concerned at the cramped conditions under which their children are expected to learn.

Parents and some of the teachers at the school said there were 221 pupils in the Grade R class.

A mother of two, Nosimamkele Heshu, said her children had yet to start learning because there were too many of them to be taught by the single Grade R teacher.

“There used to be three Grade R classrooms, but this year there is only one classroom allocated to Grade R pupils. We want to know where the other two classes are.

“It is not fair that our children are squashed in there all morning,” she said.

“This is the only primary school in the area, so it is only natural that we send our children here,” she added.

Heshu said their children were expected to start Grade 1 next year but she was worried about their progress.

“Children usually know how to write their names by the time they get to Grade 1. What are the chances of these children knowing how to do that when their learning conditions are not conducive,” she asked.

The Daily Dispatch arrived at the school yesterday unannounced after receiving a tip-off about the conditions.

The weather in East London reached a maximum of 31°C and, on arrival at the school, the team found more than 200 children seated on the floor of the prefabricated structure.

In the sweltering heat, children in full school uniform were squashed against one another and expected to listen to the teacher.

At noon when school ends for Grade R, the sweat-drenched youngsters were allowed to leave, to be met by parents outside the classroom.

A teacher, who identified herself only as Miss Ntsabo, ordered the Daily Dispatch team to leave the school premises because they were not invited by “the head of the institution”.

Click on the link to read Meet the School Consisting of Only 1 Teacher and 1 Student

Click on the link to read Classroom Free Schools

Click on the link to read Teaching 150 Students in the One Classroom!

Click on the link to read What is the Perfect Class Size?

Tags: 221 students in a classroom, Class Size, Crowded classrooms, Education, Grade R, News, Overcrowded classroom, Parenting, Sinempulelelo Primary School, What is the best class size

This entry was posted on January 28, 2014 at 7:22 pm and is filed under Class Size. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.