Alexandra high school achieving but at a cost to teachers: Sadtu

Eastbank High School in Alexandra’s 81.5% matric pass rate in 2025 came at a cost to its staff, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) says.

The school, which has faced years of overcrowding and unrest among pupils, matriculated its class with a pass rate that outperformed several schools in Alexandra.

According to Sadtu, the result masks the toll the conditions at the school are taking on teachers.

“They are giving their best, but at the cost of their mental wellbeing and physical exhaustion because the school is overcrowded,” said Sadtu national spokesperson Nomusa Cembi.

The teachers’ union said it had engaged with a site steward at the school who confirmed discipline remained a serious problem, particularly among grade 9 pupils. Some pupils causing disruptions, the representative said, had been dismissed from former “model C” schools or could no longer afford fees at other schools and had since been enrolled at Eastbank High.

Generally teachers have to do weekend classes, morning classes and afternoon classes right through the year, sacrificing their time. We welcome these achievements, but they come at a cost to their mental wellbeing. This can lead to burnout and exhaustion—  Nomusa Cembi, Sadtu national spokesperson

“We welcome the results but we do not know how long the work the teachers are doing can last because of the conditions in the school,” said Cembi.

Asked whether teachers were receiving support to help them cope, Sadtu said help was not readily available on site. Teachers who needed assistance had to report the matter to the district office, meaning support only came after a problem had been reported.

“Nothing is being done to pre-empt it. Support is reactive,” said Cembi.

Sadtu also highlighted the extra hours teachers typically put in at schools to ensure good pass rates across the board, not only in Alexandra.

“Generally teachers have to do weekend classes, morning classes and afternoon classes right through the year, sacrificing their time,” said Cembi. “We welcome these achievements, but they come at a cost to their mental wellbeing. This can lead to burnout and exhaustion.”

The union’s comments come after desks and chairs were set alight at Eastbank High on Tuesday, prompting a strong rebuke from Gauteng education MEC Lebogang Maile. A case of malicious property damage was opened with police, and the school is expected to institute disciplinary proceedings against the pupils involved.

Eastbank High’s struggles reflect a broader problem playing out across Gauteng

Maile said the incident could not be separated from the school’s broader capacity problems. Eastbank High was built to accommodate about 1,200 pupils but currently has 2,063 enrolled, 863 more than it was designed for. The school needs about 1,200 desks and 600 chairs, despite 1,150 pieces of furniture delivered this year.

“Every desk and every chair matters, particularly in a school experiencing severe pressure on its available resources,” said Maile.

Eastbank High’s struggles reflect a broader problem playing out across Gauteng. Maile revealed earlier this year that pupil enrolment in the province has more than doubled since 1995, from about 1.4-million to more than 2.8-million, driven largely by migration and urbanisation into the province. Nearly half of Gauteng’s 2,111 public schools, he said, are operating above capacity.

The pressure has been especially visible in Alexandra. At nearby Bovet Primary School, parents staged protests earlier this year after some pupils were forced to sit on the floor due to a shortage of desks and classroom space.

Cembi said at the time overcrowded classrooms made it difficult for teachers to give pupils individual attention, warning the situation was “unhealthy” and “hazardous” for pupils and staff.

Maile said the province needs at least 200 new schools to ease the pressure at a cost of about R35bn, funding the department does not currently have. In the meantime, he said measures such as mobile classrooms and additional furniture are being used to relieve overcrowding at the worst affected schools.