The government of South Africa has privatised four of its five prison schools, as part of a $40 million deal with private school provider Forsyth County Schools, the Herald Sun reported.

South Africa’s Education Minister David Shoebridge announced the deal at a public event in Cape Town on Friday.

“The government of SA is pleased to announce that Forsyon has decided to sell all of its four private school schools to the Government of SA,” Shoebridges press release said.

“They are currently under a new management structure, with a new chief executive and all of the new staff and services have been brought in.”

The deal is the largest for a private school in the country, with Forsytens school in Cape Colony sold for $1.5bn.

South African prisons have been struggling to cope with overcrowding, with more than 1.3 million inmates living in private prisons in 2015.

The government has promised to spend $20bn on its prisons over the next five years, with the aim of tackling the root causes of the problem.

The South African Institute of Criminology said last year that private schools were the best way to address overcrowding in prisons.