A severe and ongoing water outage, now entering its fifth day, has forced public schools across the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro to drastically shorten the school day, raising significant health, hygiene, and educational concerns.
The crisis has rendered ablution facilities at many public schools inoperable or unsanitary, directly cutting into crucial teaching and learning time. The situation is so dire that some schools have been compelled to send learners home.
Warmer High School was forced to dismiss over 2,000 learners due to the combined power and water outages, which also disrupted the school’s nutrition program. A school spokesperson explained the severe academic impact: “The electricity and water outage has affected us in a bad way… we do have to release our learners and teachers. Meaning that the tuition time will be reduced significantly.”
The spokesperson highlighted the particular setback for Grade 12 learners, the class of 2026, who rely on afternoon classes and study sessions that often run until 5:00 p.m. daily. “Now that we have to release them at half past twelve… the tuition time is lost and also… they are negatively affected.”
The ripple effects extend beyond school grounds. A learner noted the crisis impacts home life, stating, “Some of us use phones to look at time so we can wake up and come to school but now we can’t cook, we can’t iron” due to power cuts accompanying the water shortages.
While public schools bear the brunt, some private institutions with contingency plans are also struggling. Brylin/Elliot Academy in Fairview has utilized solar power to continue operations. However, a school official revealed the limitations: “We do run out of battery at night. So we’ve got about an hour to an hour and a half in the morning until that battery loads again where we don’t have Wi-Fi and we don’t have obviously power to print.”
The Nelson Mandela Bay Metro has officially communicated a further delay in resolving the crisis. The municipality announced that the estimated restoration time for full services has been revised, with technical assessments now pointing to Thursday as the target date.
With the Metro’s revision indicating several more days of instability, educators and parents are left grappling with the growing educational deficit and health concerns posed by the protracted water outage.