Laerskool Akasia (Pretoria)

Laerskool Akasia in Akasia, Pretoria. They named the school after the area and the area after the school, or maybe nobody could think of anything better. Either way, when your school and your suburb share a name, that is the educational equivalent of a guy who names his dog "Dog." Very bold. Very Pretoria North. Now listen, 1829 learners and only 56 educators. That is a ratio of 32.7 kids to every one teacher. One teacher. Thirty two kids. In Pretoria heat. With load shedding killing the fans. That classroom is not a learning environment, that is a survival situation. The teacher is not teaching, the teacher is crowd control. By Grade 4 those kids have learned one thing: how to be invisible when the teacher is looking for someone to answer a question. And fifty six educators trying to manage 1829 primary school kids is not a school, that is a small city with one traffic cop. Sports day alone must look like a Shoprite queue on the first of the month. The tuck shop lady has seen things. She has aged ten years per term. Someone needs to check on her. Overall verdict: Laerskool Akasia is basically a small town that gives homework, the teachers deserve medals and danger pay, but somehow the kids probably turn out just fine because surviving those numbers builds character.