Gauteng schools lost 8,925 learning days after electricity disconnections, department confirms

The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) says pupils across the province lost 8,925 school days in 2026 after electricity was disconnected at public schools. The department confirmed the figure in a written reply to questions tabled by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

Scope of the disruptions

The GDE said that about 240 public schools were affected by electricity disconnections. The department identified non-payment by schools as the main cause of the outages, and reported that the affected schools collectively owed R52.65 million to municipalities and other electricity service providers.

Department response and impact on teaching

GDE spokesperson Onwabile Lubhelwana confirmed the lost learning days in remarks to The Citizen.

“The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) confirms that 8925 school days was lost due to electrical disconnection in schools around the province.”

The department said a majority of the affected schools remained operational despite the disconnections, but acknowledged there were minimal disruptions for schools that rely on electronic teaching tools such as smartboards.

Political reaction and oversight concerns

The DA has used the departmental reply to intensify criticism of the GDE’s oversight of school finances and said it would submit the legislative replies to the Public Protector as supplementary evidence in an ongoing complaint about electricity disconnections at public schools.

DA Gauteng education spokesperson Michael Waters said the number of lost days shows the cuts were not isolated incidents and raised concerns about the department’s ability to identify financially distressed schools before essential services are cut.

Waters also noted that the department admitted in a separate legislative reply that it did not maintain a central register of schools’ outstanding debts to service providers, including the amounts owed, the duration of the debts or the reasons for the outstanding balances.

What the DA wants

• Stronger financial oversight of schools.
• Systems to track school debts to prevent disconnections of essential services.

What remains clear

The GDE has confirmed the scale of the electricity disruptions8,925 lost school days and around 240 affected schoolsand said most schools continued to operate despite the cuts. Beyond those figures, the department pointed to non-payment as the principal cause and recorded the collective debt of R52.65 million to service providers.