653 pupils stuck in classrooms that were never built at South African school
A promised school in a Pretoria township has been operating without a real campus for three years, leaving 653 pupils squeezed into mobile classrooms at
A promised school in a Pretoria township has been operating without a real campus for three years, leaving 653 pupils squeezed into mobile classrooms at another site and now out of class altogether.
Umkhumbane Junior Secondary School in Soshanguve, about 30km north of Pretoria, exists on paper and online only. On the ground, there is vacant land and a car port. Nothing more.
The school has still been enrolling learners in grades 8 to 10. The children are now housed in nine mobile classrooms at Ruabohlale Secondary School, about 3.8km away. One of those units serves as a staff room. That arrangement has worn thin.
Parents say promises have not materialised
Parents told Sowetan they were informed in 2023, when the school opened, that their children would be kept temporarily at Ruabohlale while the permanent building was constructed. They were also told the school would officially open in 2025.
Three years on, no construction has started. The site still looks empty. And the pupils have had enough.
They have boycotted lessons for the past eight days, refusing to return to what they call unacceptable learning conditions and demanding a school of their own.
The dispute has exposed a hard truth. A school can be enrolled on a system, posted online and counted in official records, yet still not exist where children are meant to learn.
A growing strain on learners
The daily setup is awkward and tiring. Pupils travel to a different school, share limited space, and wait for a campus that has not appeared. For many families, the gap between announcement and reality has become the story.
In South Africa, school infrastructure backlogs have long strained classrooms, but this case shows how those delays can spill directly into attendance and trust. When promised buildings do not rise, pupils notice first. So do parents.
Parents who spoke to the newspaper said officials from the Gauteng department of educati
