This information applies to all Council schools.
The City Council now runs or administers 29 Primary schools in the city. 28 of these are P2 (in high density areas) and only Mahatshula is P1 (low density suburbs). Council employees support staff i.e bursar, senior clerical assistant, caretaker, messenger and 2 grounds man per school. Due to increased demand, while teachers are employed by the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture, Council has had to cluster services of bursars meaning that one bursar covers 2-3 schools – cost saving.
To note, the City has a backlog of 15 schools due to lack of funding since 2002. Under normal circumstances two schools are supposed to be built. As a result most of the schools are mega schools, with enrolment that caters for over 2000 instead of 800. This subsequently leads to hot sitting. Therefore council is in need of capital to build more schools and reduce hot sitting. There is also lack of resources in terms of textbooks. P.T.A assists Council to maintain high standards of education. P.T.A is an arm of Council they are not an authority on their own. They have got atonomy to set and charge their fees. Their funds are collected by Council bursars on their behalf and banked.
There are 25 pre schools all in the Western areas. These are run by the pre school co-ordinator. Council allows the community to hire their own teachers, set their own fees. Council only maintains infrastructure. They pay for their own electricity and water charges.
