The Eastern Cape education department is undoubtedly among the worst in the country. Its matrics have the lowest pass rate of any province, and its well known that huge swathes of Eastern Cape schools are run down and dysfunctional.
Last week Mail & Guardian reporter Victoria John went to the Eastern Cape to visit some of the worst schools in the country in the province's deep rural areas. What she found was hair-raising.
A hundred children crammed into a falling down classrooms, with no furniture and one teacher – if there was a teacher at all. Given the circumstances, it's easy to see why so many Eastern Cape matrics fail so miserably each year. Instead of being taught, children in no-name towns like Zithulele and Libode spend much of their school days being corralled together without adequate supervision, much less opportunities for learning.
Join us on Friday at 12:30pm for a live video with Victoria, to hear more about the schools that the education department forgot.
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You can watch the video on this link when it happens, and on our Google+ page.
See our previous M&G Hangouts here.