Thubelihle High School matriculants say they were impacted negatively by infrastructure challenges

JOHANNESBURG - Pupils who matriculated at Thubelihle High School in Jabavu, Soweto said that infrastructure challenges negatively impacted their studies in 2024.

The school is made up of mobile units that were erected when the cohort began high school in 2020.

Some learners told EWN that at times, classes would be conducted under a tree due to unbearably high temperatures in the mobile units.

Only one of the school’s blocks is currently under construction while the rest consists of mobile units.

One pupil, Sandile Mthethwa, said that the infrastructure was not the only issue they had to contend with, saying there was a time when they did not have tables or chairs.

Although he passed his matric year, he said that some of his peers were negatively impacted by having to learn outside the classroom.

"We usually go to the playground or just find a place where there’s shade, then we settle there and we study and then in winter but obvious some of the learners were struggling and they were complaining of the temperature of the mobile, so we had to study outside for sunlight."

He said he hopes the department can intervene to better the schooling conditions for those who remain.