Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says changes are being made to the SA Schools Act that will lead to the closure of high schools with less than 135 pupils, the Sunday Times reported.

“Very often, people are reluctant to have schools close down because for every school that closes, a principal loses his job, but the current situation cannot continue,” she said.

Motshekga said most of the schools that performed dismally in last year’s matric exams had few pupils.

These schools still have to offer seven matric subjects, but often do not have enough teachers because every high school gets only one teacher per 35 pupils.

“Schools that give us a 100 percent pass rate are generally schools that have more than 800 kids. They have decent money to run the schools,” said Motshekga.

She said in the Eastern Cape there were schools with as little as three pupils and in Limpopo there were schools with only six children.

“In the Eastern Cape they have more than 5000 schools. They have too many schools for the learner population.” SAPA