Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said there were almost 20 000 schools in the country that had no laboratories.
The minister also said there were more than 17 000 schools that did not have libraries.
She said this number did not include community libraries used by some of the schools.
However, the Department of Communications was dealing with providing internet access to these schools.
Motshekga, who was replying to a written parliamentary question from the IFP, said the department was also addressing the question of pit latrines.
The department has come under fire over the years for the lack of proper toilets in some schools.
Siphosethu Ngcobo from the IFP wanted to know from Motshekga how many schools were without laboratories. She said there were almost 20 000 such schools across the country.
She also said there were schools without libraries.
“There are a total of 17 711 schools without libraries. This excludes community and corner libraries used by some of the schools,” said Motshekga.
She also said they were providing internet access to some of the schools.
“The Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services is responsible for providing public schools with access to internet connectivity.
“A cumulative number of 18 519 public schools (almost 80% of the total number) have access to various forms of connectivity, such as satellite, broadband as well as 3G/LTE.
“It should be noted that 27% of these schools (4 689 public ordinary schools and 301 public special schools) were provided with connectivity as part of the universal service access obligations that were imposed on the mobile network operators by Icasa and the Department of Telecommunications,” said Motshekga.
Current Affairs