By Charmaine Ndlela

Gauteng Education MEC Lebogang Maile has warned municipalities that schools disconnected over unpaid electricity bills must be reconnected immediately or the provincial government will consider legal action.

Speaking during a media briefing on Monday following the conclusion of the Gauteng government’s “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” outreach programme, Maile described the disconnection of schools as “reckless” and “irresponsible”, saying municipalities should not treat schools as easy targets for revenue collection.

“We are warning the municipalities for the last time today, whatever school that is disconnected must be connected immediately,” Maile said.

“If they don’t do that, we are going to explore our legal options because you can’t disconnect schools.”

Maile said the department provides schools with funding to pay for water and electricity, but acknowledged that the money available to individual schools is limited.

He said the department was considering centralising the payment function and taking it back from schools, while also exploring a public-private partnership model and the possibility of taking schools off the electricity grid.

The MEC said some schools had complained about being overcharged by municipalities, while others had struggled to obtain electricity meters.

“The department doesn’t have the money. The money that is there is with the schools. And even that money with the schools is limited,” he said.

The issue forms part of a broader crisis around municipal services affecting schools.

The province’s post-consultative report found that communities repeatedly raised concerns about unreliable water supplies, electricity interruptions, poor roads, illegal dumping and other municipal failures affecting learning environments.

School safety

School safety also emerged as a major concern during the briefing, with Maile revealing that the department is reviewing its seven-pillar school safety strategy while intensifying search-and-seizure operations.

The department said it had already conducted raids, including at Badirile Secondary School in Carletonville and schools in Orange Farm.

Maile said the operations would continue through both announced and unannounced raids as the province attempts to curb weapons, drugs, crime and violence in schools.

“We are very concerned about crime and violence in schools,” he said.

The department said it is spending R165 million on the deployment of school patrollers and is working with the Department of Community Safety on traffic wardens, while relying on the South African Police Service to respond to criminal activity.

But Maile said the education department could not afford to divert money from teaching and learning to fund extensive security deployments.

“We’ve got schools that are not having desks, that are not having chairs. Shortages of Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM), shortages of educators. Whatever money we have, we have to prioritise those,” he said.

The province’s outreach findings reinforced the seriousness of the problem, with communities consistently raising concerns about crime, violence, bullying, gangsterism, substance abuse, vandalism, weapons and gender-based violence.

Gauteng is also considering a technology-driven overhaul of school security.

About 600 schools have already had cameras installed, but the department wants surveillance cameras eventually installed in all schools.

The long-term plan includes biometric or facial-recognition access for learners and educators, cameras covering classrooms and school perimeters, tighter access control and armed-response systems linked to police stations.

Maile pointed to an incident in Alexandra in which criminals allegedly entered a school despite the presence of an unarmed guard as evidence of weaknesses in the current system.

He said the department was considering implementing the measures through a public-private partnership model.

“These are big ideas that we’re working on, but these are the issues which will require money,” Maile said.

The province’s broader school-safety strategy is based on the understanding that security cannot be addressed by schools alone.

Its post-consultative report calls for stronger partnerships between schools, SAPS, municipalities, parents, communities and other stakeholders.

R27bn infrastructure backlog

While security remains an immediate concern, Maile said the province’s biggest challenge is the scale of its infrastructure needs.

The department estimates that R27 billion is required to address occupational health and safety concerns across its school buildings.

Another R35 billion is needed to build 200 additional schools.

“We need R27 billion to deal with occupational health and safety. We need R35 billion to build more schools. So, we need money, and that’s the problem,” Maile said.

The MEC said the department was prioritising schools facing emergencies, particularly those that are no longer habitable, while searching for alternative ways of raising funding.

The infrastructure pressure is compounded by shortages of desks and chairs, with Maile warning that learners in some schools are even fighting over limited furniture.

He said schools receive funding for maintenance, with about 12% allocated towards infrastructure maintenance.

The provincial outreach programme similarly identified overcrowding, classroom shortages, delayed maintenance and deteriorating infrastructure as recurring concerns across communities.

Gauteng also faces a major backlog in sports infrastructure.

Responding to concerns about deteriorating sporting facilities at schools, Maile said the province would need R600 million to provide sports facilities at every school.

“We need R600 million to ensure that there is sports facility in every school. R600 million. So, we don’t have it,” he said.

Admissions and overcrowding

The growing pressure on Gauteng’s schools is also reflected in online admissions.

At the time of the briefing, approximately 451,000 applications had already been recorded, including 105,786 Grade 8 applications and 93,864 Grade 1 applications.

Maile said the increasing number of learners would require not only additional schools and furniture, but also more teachers.

But he was unequivocal that overcrowding at a preferred school should never result in a child being left without education.

“If a school you want is full, over-subscribed, it doesn’t mean the child must stay at home,” he said.

“No child must stay at home. Every child must be in a school.”

Maile said the department would rather place a learner in a school further from home and address the resulting pressure on resources than allow that learner to remain outside the education system.

“Every child must be in class. Every child must be in schools,” he said.

The province’s post-consultative report identifies overcrowding and learner placement as major challenges driven partly by Gauteng’s population growth and migration into the province.

To help address the infrastructure backlog, Maile announced that Gauteng would soon launch an “Adopt a School” campaign aimed at mobilising businesses and other partners to assist schools.

He said he had already been approached by potential partners, including an individual prepared to assist about 15 schools in Katlehong.

The campaign will prioritise urgent needs such as ablution facilities, classrooms and damaged ceilings.

Maile said the initiative would allow government to work with partners to tackle infrastructure challenges that the provincial budget cannot address on its own.

Skills and education pathways

Maile also outlined plans to expand a multi-certification programme that could allow learners to obtain practical qualifications while still at school.

He said the department wants learners to have opportunities to obtain certificates in areas such as plumbing, electrical work and swimming alongside their academic studies.

The aim is to move beyond certificates that have little value in the labour market towards accredited qualifications that could provide learners with employment opportunities even if they do not complete matric.

“If that child was not to finish matric, they could still go get work and all that,” Maile said.

The department is also focusing on STEM subjects, including mathematics, science, technology and accounting, while strengthening teaching in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) and foundation phases.

Maile said the province was also expanding opportunities in arts, culture and sport for learners who may not follow traditional academic pathways.

Outreach programme

Launched in May 2026, the “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” programme aimed to create direct engagement between government, communities and education stakeholders.

Between May and July, provincial departments planned 127 engagements and institutional visits and completed 90.

These included 41 community meetings, 25 unannounced school visits and 24 sports hub visits, reaching 11,294 people through direct engagements.

The programme’s educational communication platforms generated more than 10.2 million views and impressions and more than 90,000 direct online interactions.

Maile urged communities to help protect schools from vandalism and criminality, called on parents to remain actively involved in their children’s education, and encouraged businesses to contribute to education and skills development.

He also urged young people to reject violence, drugs and gangsterism.

INSIDE EDUCATION

The post Maile warns municipalities over school power cuts as Gauteng battles R27bn infrastructure crisis appeared first on Inside Education..