Amongst the many challenges that South African schools have, the issue of fewer classrooms and overcrowding in schools continues to be a problem across all nine provinces. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has outlined its interim plan to resolve this issue in one of the schools in the province.
Angie Motshekga, the Basic Education minister, said that the department does not have the R5 billion necessary to construct 16,000 new classrooms.
The eMagcekeni Primary School in KwaNongoma, in the Zululand district, is one of many schools that have the issue of fewer classrooms compared to the number of learners that it has.
KZN Education Minister Kwazi Mshengu has announced that the department’s infrastructure unit will be providing the school with mobile classrooms.
In a statement, the Education Department said:
We are not only addressing the issue of classrooms but are also building administration blocks for school principals and management teams.
Mshengu said that the department will also ensure to bring essential services such as water, electricity, and decent sanitation
KZN Education said the issue of poor and dilapidated school infrastructure is a legacy left by the apartheid education system.
The department revealed that it was committed to prioritising such schools which are located in the poorest communities, including multi-grade, multiphase, farm, and rural schools.
“We are pleased to state that we are permanently changing the landscape of this province by building state-of-the-art schools.”
The department is certain that this will lead to better infrastructure, and pro-poor interventions, to ensure that children in the province are able to enjoy the process of learning.
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