THERE is only one Grade 3 pupil at a primary school with 17 pupils and two teachers.
This is one of many farm schools in Mpumalanga which have a declining pupil population and in some instances only have one teacher.
The area with most farm schools in the province is Gert Sibande Municipality, which incorporates towns such as Balfour, Grootvlei and Volksrust.
Sowetan found 16 pupils from grades 1 to 6 in one class at one of the primary schools.
The teacher who teaches grades 1 to 3 was away attending a workshop and the pupils had to be accommodated in the senior class.
The only teacher at one of the farm schools in Gert Sibande Municipality, with only 13 pupils, said pupils leave early when she has to go to meetings or workshops. She teaches all the classes at the school from grade 1 to 7.
The pupils attending these schools stay On farms where their parents work.
The Mpumalanga department of education provides scholar transport to ferry them to school.
Another teacher who spoke to Sowetan said it was not easy to teach a multi-grade class.
The teacher teaches grades 4 to 6 pupils.
"When I am busy with the Grades 4 I give the other grades tasks to do, but it is not easy because in some instances you can't finish the lesson in one day," said the teacher.
"But somehow we manage and we try our best to give the pupils good education."
Another teacher who spoke to Sowetan said there had been worse cases where a farm school was only left with 3 pupils.
"But there was nothing the teacher could do until the parents took their children out of the school," said the teacher.
The spokesman for the department Jasper Zwane said the challenge with the schools was that there were not many people who stay on the farms, and others leave them for a better life in townships.
However, he said the department was phasing out multi-grades in farm schools by building boarding schools to accommodate the pupils.
The department has built three boarding schools so far and will be opening another one next year.
Two boarding schools are in the Gert Sibande Municipality and another one is at Nkomazi Municipality.
He said more farm schools would be closed and pupils would be taken to the boarding school to be opened next year at eMakhazeni Municipality.
"We want to phase out multigrades because we don't think our learners are getting quality education, and other farm schools had also been merged to curb the problem," he said.
Macupeb@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
The school with 13 pupils and a teacher
THERE is only one Grade 3 pupil at a primary school with 17 pupils and two teachers.
This is one of many farm schools in Mpumalanga which have a declining pupil population and in some instances only have one teacher.
The area with most farm schools in the province is Gert Sibande Municipality, which incorporates towns such as Balfour, Grootvlei and Volksrust.
Sowetan found 16 pupils from grades 1 to 6 in one class at one of the primary schools.
The teacher who teaches grades 1 to 3 was away attending a workshop and the pupils had to be accommodated in the senior class.
The only teacher at one of the farm schools in Gert Sibande Municipality, with only 13 pupils, said pupils leave early when she has to go to meetings or workshops. She teaches all the classes at the school from grade 1 to 7.
The pupils attending these schools stay On farms where their parents work.
The Mpumalanga department of education provides scholar transport to ferry them to school.
Another teacher who spoke to Sowetan said it was not easy to teach a multi-grade class.
The teacher teaches grades 4 to 6 pupils.
"When I am busy with the Grades 4 I give the other grades tasks to do, but it is not easy because in some instances you can't finish the lesson in one day," said the teacher.
"But somehow we manage and we try our best to give the pupils good education."
Another teacher who spoke to Sowetan said there had been worse cases where a farm school was only left with 3 pupils.
"But there was nothing the teacher could do until the parents took their children out of the school," said the teacher.
The spokesman for the department Jasper Zwane said the challenge with the schools was that there were not many people who stay on the farms, and others leave them for a better life in townships.
However, he said the department was phasing out multi-grades in farm schools by building boarding schools to accommodate the pupils.
The department has built three boarding schools so far and will be opening another one next year.
Two boarding schools are in the Gert Sibande Municipality and another one is at Nkomazi Municipality.
He said more farm schools would be closed and pupils would be taken to the boarding school to be opened next year at eMakhazeni Municipality.
"We want to phase out multigrades because we don't think our learners are getting quality education, and other farm schools had also been merged to curb the problem," he said.
Macupeb@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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