Silimela Senior Secondary School (Berlin)

Silimela Senior Secondary School in Berlin, Eastern Cape. Not Berlin, Germany where they have the Wall and the techno clubs. Berlin, Eastern Cape, where the only wall is the one the Grade 8s wrote on in the bathroom. But hey, at least the school is free, which is good because with 15 teachers trying to handle 510 learners, you are going to need all your money saved up for therapy later. Thirty four learners per teacher. Thirty four. That is not a classroom, that is a taxi rank with a whiteboard. Your teacher is not teaching, your teacher is surviving. Raising a hand to ask a question is basically a social experiment because by the time that teacher gets to you, you have already Googled it, forgotten it, and moved on with your life. The poor educator is out there doing the Lord's work with nothing but a marker and determination. Now listen, 81.2% matric pass rate from a no-fee public school in the Eastern Cape with those ratios, that is actually not a joke, that is impressive. Those kids and teachers are putting in work that most fancy fee-paying schools with their heated swimming pools and golf courses would not manage under the same conditions. Overall verdict: Silimela is the scrappy underdog you sleep on and then it beats your expensive private school on results day and you have to sit with that.