Pupils at an overcrowded school in Schoemansdal, outside Malalane, Mpumalanga, are forced to sit on the floor and some on tables because there is a shortage of furniture.

Teachers said there were about 70 pupils in each class.

Parents at Lugebhuta High School said they have been buying furniture for the school for years without the department's assistance.

When Sowetan visited the school yesterday, pupils sat on the floor during class.

"We engaged the department to buy us tables and chairs but they told us to use our money for maintenance and we have other important things in the school like safety.

"As we speak, not only our school has a problem like this. Most schools here have the same problem of furniture. The department renovated our school but now in the classes children are standing or sitting on the floor during lessons," said the chairperson of the school governing body (SGB), Mnguni Qwabe.

"As representatives of parents, we don't know what to do but we will have to hold a parents' meeting to get a mandate on what steps to take."

Teachers who spoke to Sowetan on condition of anonymity said they too did not have tables and chairs.

One teacher said: "This is out of order. As teachers, we need to produce good marks but here we have more than 60 children in one class and others have 70. When you come to class, you don't have a table to place your documents or a chair because the children are sitting on them and you can't blame them.

"What helps us now from bullying from the children is the CCTV cameras which the SGB installed so the children are scared because they know they are being watched."

Spokesperson for the department of education Jasper Zwane said they had already started procuring the furniture for the school and in the meantime asked the SGB to use their daily maintenance allocation to buy chairs and tables.

"For now, we just renovated the 23 classes in the school after we found out that the classes were in a bad state.

"We have met with the SGB and asked them to use the daily maintenance allocation we give them while we are doing the full procurement of the needed furniture in the school," said Zwane.