Four desks and two chairs were deliberately set alight at Eastbank High School in Alexandra this week, an act the Gauteng Education MEC described as especially damaging given the school’s acute shortages and heavy overcrowding.
Police case opened; school to institute disciplinary action
Police from the Alexandra Police Station have opened a case of malicious damage to property following the Tuesday incident, the department reported. The school is expected to begin disciplinary proceedings against learners believed to be linked to the fire.
“We cannot complain about shortages today and destroy the very same scarce resources tomorrow,” the MEC said.
The Gauteng Department of Education said the arson is particularly troubling because Eastbank High was built for about 1,200 learners but now serves more than 2,000 pupils, placing immense strain on classrooms and furniture.
| Design capacity | Current enrolment | Overcapacity (learners) |
|---|---|---|
| 1,200 | 2,063+ | ~863 |
According to the department, the school faces a shortfall of about 1,200 desks and 600 chairs. While the department delivered 1,000 chairs and 150 desks earlier in 2026, significant gaps remain.
Repeated damage undoes previous repairs
The MEC rejected accounts that learners burned furniture because classrooms were cold due to broken windows. Officials said all windows had been repaired last year and the school began 2026 without broken panes. Since then, roughly 60 windows reportedly require repairs after being damaged, and about eight doors that the department fixed approximately three months ago need additional attention.
The MEC warned that recurring vandalism forces the department into a cycle of repair that drains limited resources and slows progress on larger infrastructure needs. In his remarks he highlighted the inequity of destroying scarce items while demand for basic classroom furniture remains high.
- Police have opened a case of malicious damage to property at Alexandra Police Station.
- The Gauteng Department of Education delivered 1,000 chairs and 150 desks in 2026 but a shortfall persists.
- Approximately 60 windows and eight doors now require repairs after recent damage.
The incident at Eastbank High underscores broader challenges faced by many schools where rising enrolment outpaces infrastructure investment. Overcrowded classrooms undermine teaching and learning and increase wear on fixed assets such as windows, doors and desks.
For learners, teachers and parents the immediate consequence is practical: fewer functioning desks and chairs mean less space for learners to work and greater difficulty for teachers to manage lessons. For the education department the consequence is financial and operational — funds earmarked for ongoing improvements must be diverted to repeat maintenance while planning for longer-term upgrades is delayed.
Moving forward will require addressing both the social dynamics that lead to vandalism in schools and the structural pressures of overcrowding. The department’s statistics on delivered versus required furniture point to the scale of the logistical challenge; the MEC’s comments draw attention to the need for strengthened school-level governance and community engagement to protect public assets.
Police investigations and the school’s internal disciplinary processes are under way. The Gauteng Department of Education will also need to account publicly for how remaining gaps in furniture and repairs will be closed, and how repeated damage will be prevented so that scarce resources benefit learners in classrooms rather than being lost to avoidable incidents.
