Irene Middle Farm School (Centurion)

Irene Middle Farm School, ke nako. A government no-fee school in Irene, Centurion, which means the price is right but the ratio is absolutely not. 612 learners and only 18 teachers. Eighteen. That is not a school, that is one teacher trying to mark 34 books while load shedding kills the photocopier and someone in the back row has decided today is sports day without permission. 34 learners per teacher means your educator is not teaching, they are surviving. They walked into that classroom in January with dreams and a lesson plan and by March they were just pointing at the chalkboard and saying "read amongst yourselves." The tuck shop lady probably knows more learners by name than the actual staff do. Jy weet hoe is dit. And listen, Irene is a lovely area, very suburban, very green, very "we have a Checkers AND a Woolies." But with 612 kids crammed in and 18 teachers holding the whole thing together with Prestik and government stationery, it sounds less like a middle school and more like a taxi rank on a Friday afternoon, everyone trying to get somewhere and nobody quite sure who is in charge. Overall verdict: Zero fees, full chaos, but those 18 teachers are carrying more than the Springbok pack and deserve every single thing they are not being paid.