EWN reports that the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) has called on the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to intervene where there have been reports of overcrowding at schools.  

On Wednesday, teachers and parents at the Bergville Primary School, as well as Bishop Lavis community activists, handed over a memorandum to the department.  Various grievances were cited, including overcrowding, staff shortages and safety concerns.  Bergville Primary School principal Aleem Abrahams indicated that overcrowded classrooms were impacting on the quality of education learners were receiving.  Abrahams said that in one class, the teacher had more than 70 pupils.  Sadtu's Jonovan Rustin said this was unacceptable:  "We are deeply concerned about overcrowding in the province and we are in the process of monitoring where we find instances where there are no teachers with the overcrowding."  The WCED said it was looking into the matter.

• A short report by Shamiela Fisher is at EWN

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