Milner High School (Klerksdorp)

Milner High School in Klerksdorp, New Town. New Town. They called it New Town. That name has been lying since approximately 1987. There is nothing new happening in that town and you know it. But okay, fair enough, at least they are being optimistic. The school itself is a public school in the North West, which already tells you everything you need to know about the infrastructure situation. Load shedding hits different when your whole province feels like it is permanently stage 6. Now let us talk about this classroom situation. 974 learners, 43 educators, giving you a ratio of 22.7 to one. That means your teacher is basically running a small taxi rank from the front of the classroom. Seventeen kids standing, everyone squeezed in, someone is definitely sitting on a windowsill. Sir is not teaching anymore, Sir is just surviving. And with an 81.5% matric pass rate, look, that is not embarrassing, but it does mean roughly one in five kids came out the other side and had to have a very uncomfortable conversation with their parents over a Sunday lunch that nobody enjoyed. But here is the thing. A public school in Klerksdorp pushing over 80% with those kinds of numbers and that kind of pressure? The teachers there are genuinely working hard. That is not nothing. That is actually something to be proud of, even if the building probably looks like it last saw a fresh coat of paint during the Mandela administration. Overall verdict: Milner High is a taxi with no aircon that somehow always gets you there on time, which is honestly more than you can say for most.