One hundred and ninety-six Eastern Cape schools are still using the dangerous pit latrine system - and, at one school, 600 pupils are crammed into 10 classrooms.

A Grade 10 classroom houses a staggering 164 pupils.

These are some of the shocking realities highlighted by Public Protector advocate Kholeka Gcaleka in her more than 400-page report released on Friday in the Eastern Cape provincial legislature.

The report comes after Gcaleka's team of investigators crisscrossed the province for months to investigate 60 service delivery-related complaints filed with her office.

The complaints were levelled against municipalities and all provincial government departments.  

Three pages in the report delved into the ailing public school system.

"Our investigation revealed that the provision of basic education by the Eastern Cape education department is at risk of being compromised by a lack of proper school infrastructure or facilities, which manifests itself in a number of challenges within certain schools, such as Loyiso Senior Secondary and Cancele Primary Schools," Gcaleka noted.

She found:

• Overcrowding at Loyiso Senior Secondary School in the Alfred Nzo district;
• The school has been ruined and dilapidated over time and it can no longer deal with the rising number of learners;
• Loyiso Senior Secondary School only had 10 classes to cater for more than 600 pupils at the time of the site inspection by the investigation team in 2021;
• Grade 8 had 121 learners crammed into one classroom, Grade 9 had 116 learners, Grade 10 had 164 learners in one classroom respectively;
• The conditions of pit latrine toilets at Cancele Primary School are appalling and there were only four toilets for the entire school at the time of inspection;
• The perimeter fencing of Cancele Primary School was not in a good condition and the community members had to erect it on their own at some stage; and
• School infrastructure - a library; laboratories for science, technology, mathematics and life sciences; electronic connectivity at a school - is either absent or inadequate at Loyiso Senior Secondary school.

"The poor condition of the schools concerned poses a serious risk to the well-being and lives of learners and educators alike," said Gcaleka.  

She said overcrowding had a negative impact on the quality of teaching and learning because it could be a challenge for educators to give every learner the attention they required.

The Eastern Cape education department revealed that it had since allocated five prefabricated classrooms to Loyiso Senior Secondary School and erected security fencing.

The education department also revealed that, of the 196 schools which lack sanitation flush toilets, only 30 schools were embarking on a sanitation flush programme and the tender for this project had closed on 12 July 2023.

It further added that there were 166 schools still under planning and assessment stage.

The African National Congress accepted the report and promised to address the challenges.

It is expected to return to Gcaleka with a clear action plan to fix all the problems within 60 days.  

After three decades of democracy, more than a million South Africans live with the daily indignity of a bucket toilet, according to recently released Census data.

It found that 2.1% of the 17.8-million South African households rely on buckets as their main ablution facility.

The Northern Cape recorded the highest number of households using buckets, with 4.5% using this type of toilet. The Free State comes in second with 3.5%, followed by the Western Cape with 3.1%. Limpopo has the lowest number of flushing toilets, with 35.2% of the households using this as their primary facility. This province's main type of facility is the VIP pit latrine. Gauteng is fourth on the bucket list with 2.5%.